A Commission-hosted workshop with member states and stakeholders from around the Baltic Sea has ended in a joint call for the Commission’s top advisory body to explore possible ways of introducing flexibility into the current effort management system, without increasing fishing mortality or realised fishing effort.
The request was addressed to the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), which is currently performing an evaluation of the Baltic cod management plan. The Committee will meet in early March to discuss that, which is expected to be finished by July. The Commission then plans to have draft proposal ready in early 2012.
The workshop in Brussels on 23 February on the possibilities to introduce flexibility in the management of fishing effort under the Baltic Sea cod plan was initiated by the member states, as some have reported problems with the effort management system currently in force. The major problem was said to be that coastal fishermen are unable to catch their quota as a result of lack of days at sea.
The meeting gathered representatives from all Member States around the Baltic Sea except for Finland, the STECF as well as stakeholders from the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BSRAC).
The meeting therefore aimed at identifying the purported problems and to work on possible temporary solutions that would provide the requested flexibility without undermining the objectives of the plan and to contribute to the review process of the Baltic Sea cod plan.
The member states were invited to give presentations, including demonstration of data identifying the problems under the current system – Sweden, Denmark and Latvia gave presentations.
- Denmark reported that some operators in the small scale fleet, particularly vessels using passive gears, mainly targeting other species than cod but sometimes catching cod as bycatch, have a problem catching their allocated quota as they are running out of days at sea.
- Sweden reported that very few vessels use their entire allocation of days at sea. However, in the near future it is expected that the Swedish small scale fisheries, particularly the mixed coastal fisheries, will suffer from a lack of days at sea. Government as well as industry representatives from Sweden and Denmark are therefore worried that the coastal fisheries will be extinguished as a result. This view was also supported by the German fishing industry. Poland, on the other hand, reported that they so far had not experienced any of the problems mentioned.At the same time, these nations, with support from the industry, reported that larger vessels, mainly trawlers, have more than enough days to catch their quota.
- Denmark therefore proposed to include flexibility within the current effort system allowing for transfer of days at sea from one fleet segment to another, particularly from trawlers to smaller vessels using passive gears. Under current legislation this is not possible.
- Latvia presented a different view of the problem, where its fishing fleet currently has a problem catching their allocated quota. The problem remains at the national level and is not a particular problem of the small scale fleet segment, but rather for the fisheries in general, and particularly the larger trawlers. According to the Latvian representative this is a result of intensive scrapping during the last years. The Estonian government representative voiced support for this view. However, neither of the two countries presented any data supporting this problem.
Currently 160 days at sea are allowed in the Eastern Baltic and 163 days are allowed in the Western Baltic. The management plan in place at present stipulates a 10-percent annual decrease in fishing effort until the fishing mortality target has been reached. For the Eastern Baltic the target has already been reached, meaning that the total number of days at sea has remained constant the last couple of years, whereas for the Western stock the days at sea are constantly shrinking as a result of the target not yet having been met.
The Commission voiced concern that a transfer of days from one fleet segment to another will ultimately lead to a total increase in effective fishing effort. However, the Danish industry argued with support from the STECF that the fisheries experiencing this problem use a large mesh size (mainly the 220 mm gillnet fishery targeting turbot) and therefore catch comparatively small amounts of cod and is therefore unlikely to have a negative impact on the cod stock. The Danish industry also argued that a lack of days at sea will decrease the incentives for fishermen to move to new fishing grounds in the events of encounters of large amounts of juvenile cod, and can therefore lead to increased discard rates. The Swedish government pointed out that if the TAC is small enough to ensure that the fishing mortality is kept at or below the target, any increase in fishing effort is unlikely to have an impact on the fishing mortality.