Fisheries and environmental experts and authorities from the Baltic region gathered for the first fisheries meeting after the modernisation of HELCOM. The work plan for the group was agreed upon and the group elected Marcin Rucinski as chair. The meeting focused on the draft of the new HELCOM Recommendation on aquaculture.
HELCOM has recently undergone a streamlining process which among others have led to a number of changes to all working groups within HELCOM. Changes include; common format for all groups, focus to shift more towards policy relevance, and policy documents are to be more concise and to the point. The streaming process have also lead to the establishment of the new HELCOM group on Ecosystem-based Sustainable Fisheries (Fish) which will replace the old Baltic Fisheries and Environment Forum. The new FISH group is a time-limited group and is, as part of its work package, to establish stronger cooperation with ICES, BALTFISH and the BSAC.
The new Fish group will focus on fisheries in relation to the implementation of the ecosystem-based approach and is to facilitate the implementation and follow-up the progress in fisheries-related actions of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) and Ministerial Declaration. The group is furthermore tasked to find solutions of how the fishing sector could contribute reaching Good Environmental Status of the Baltic Sea by 2021 and to recognise the interactions between fisheries and environmental conservation objectives and as such try and reach these simultaneously. The Fish Group involves representatives from fisheries and environment authorities of the Baltic Sea countries, as well as EU, and HELCOM Observers and others as appropriate.
Fish group practicalities established
The first meeting of the Ecosystem-based Sustainable Fisheries group took place in at the HELCOM Secretariat office in Helsinki 20-21 October 2014. The meeting elected Marcin Rucinski, Polish fisheries attaché, as Chair for the group. It was suggested by Germany that the group should have a co-chair arrangement with one co-chair representing the fisheries side and the other co-chair representing the environmental side, similar to the set up in the former Fisheries and Environmental Forum. The HELCOM Secretariat is to bring this up with the HELCOM chair and the Heads of Declaration, and a possible co-chair will be elected at the next Fish meeting.
The general outline of for the Work Plan for the group was discussed in detail and a number of changes and clarifications where made to the draft work plan. The work plan for the Fish group consists of six actions with a number of concrete activates under each action. The overarching actions are:
1) Integrated assessment of human impacts
2) Sustainable fishing practices and conservation objectives
3) Migratory fish species
4) HELCOM recommendation on sustainable aquaculture
5) Cooperation between authorities and stakeholders
6) Follow up of the Baltic Sea Action Plan
HELCOM Recommendation on aquaculture
The draft recommendation on aquaculture submitted to the meeting is the second draft recommendation after the first being rejected during the last Heads of Delegation (HOD) meeting. A number of the most challenging pending issues in the new draft was discussed in detail during the meeting. Germany emphasised the need to keep in mind that the role of HELCOM is to protect the marine environment and not to favour economic interest. They believed the draft was skewed towards promoting aquaculture and referred to the Copenhagen Ministerial Declaration which clearly specifies that the aim on the recommendation for aquaculture should be to, among others, to limit harmful substances to the Baltic Sea. Finland was under a different point of view, and where in favour of the inclusion of economic development of blue growth – as aquaculture is looked at from an economic point of view within Finland. They believe the presences of the Fish group is to bring together all interest both environmental and economic. Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) pointed out that according to the BSAP and Ministerial declaration, all Member States are to reduce their nutrient to the Baltic Sea. And as the aquaculture sector at present leak about 60% of their nutrient into the Baltic Sea, the approach of HELCOM should be to promote sustainable aquaculture practices.
Once finalised, the HELCOM Recommendation on Aquaculture will set the common, regional principles and understanding of the Best Available Technologies (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP) to be applied by the sector.
Fisheries and conservation objectives
Another task of the group is to address fishing practices which have a potential negative impact on conservation goals and/or threatened or declining species and habitats, with focus on coastal and marine protected areas (MPAs). It is thought that the work within the Fish group is to support the work of other HELCOM groups and activities, but it remains unclear how this is to be done in practice and what activities are to be included in the different projects.
The Ecosystem-based Sustainable Fisheries group will meet 2-3 times over a two year period. The next meeting is planned to take place in spring 2015, with the aim to schedule it back to back with the BALTFISH meeting.