At the end of November, the Expert Working Group of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), an advisory body to the European Commission on fisheries management, met in Edinburgh to establish an initial work plan for an impact assessment for the Multi-Species plan for the Baltic Sea. The plan is suggested to include the Baltic sprat, herring and cod.
Impact assessments for the long-term cod management plans for the Kattegat, North Sea, Irish Sea and the sea West of Scotland, were also discussed.
A multi-species plan for the Baltic Sea is a collaborative effort and has been in development for a while now. Already in 2009, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) evaluated the possibilities for a joint management of the Baltic herring and sprat stocks. Due to the recent recovery of the Eastern Baltic cod stock under the multiannual cod management plan, the European Commission (EC) requested that a multi-species management plan should be developed for the Baltic Sea, particularly addressing ecosystem effects on the pelagic fish assembly.
The STECF meeting imparted scientific knowledge on the state of the Baltic Sea herring, sprat and cod stocks, as well as the nature and economic reality of the Baltic fishing fleet targeting those species. The aspiration of the European Commission (EC) is that all the Baltic stocks managed under catch quotas, including the Kattegat stocks, should be covered under the long-term management plans, albeit not necessarily by multi-species or multi-fisheries plans.
The initial discussions, therefore, focused on which stocks should be included in the initial multi-species plan. It was proposed to include herring, sprat and cod from the Baltic Sea east of Bornholm since satisfactory scientific data is available for those species in this Baltic Sea region. There are some data gaps however, particularly relating to the cod diet, which are needed to ensure reliable modelling. Western Baltic Sea cod and spring spawning herring, were proposed to be included in the plan with technical measures only, since not much data is available on their biological interactions with other stocks.
The final version of the multi-species management plan is likely to be a combination of a multi-species plan and a multi-fisheries plan. The possibility to include technical measures concerning other fish was also discussed, with main reference to salmon, in addition to flounder and turbot, which are commonly caught as by-catch in the demersal cod fishery.
The Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BSRAC) was also present at the meeting. The one-third group of the BSRAC is formed by environmental NGOs, who proposed the following action points for the initial multi-species management plan for the Baltic Sea:
– The inclusion of as many stocks and species as possible, although the scientific knowledge of biological interactions between stocks should be of main concern
– The inclusion of all commercial fisheries as well as recreational fisheries
– The direct and indirect ecological effects on species not included in the plan (e.g. coastal fishes and sticklebacks) should be further highlighted
– The technical measures for reducing by-catch, especially flatfish and salmon, should be included from the starting point of implementation
– The incorporation of the historical geographical and size distribution of cod in the evaluations, due to the fact that different sizes of cod have different ecological impacts
– Finally, the reservation of more fishing opportunities for fisheries utilising selective fishing techniques, which are less damaging to habitats and have lower carbon footprint
It is noteworthy that ICES has also commenced work towards developing the multi-species management plan for the Baltic Sea. Both STECF and ICES work collaboratively on the matter, and division of tasks was identified to avoid duplication of work.
The next STECF meeting is planned for March 2012, and the first draft of the impact assessment has to be delivered to the Commission in June 2013, at the latest.