A BALTFISH technical working group and the Baltic Sea Advisory Committee’s (BSAC) working group coordinated back-to-back meetings in Gdynia, Poland on January 26-28. Key topics on both agendas included follow up discussion on underwater fishing mortality in Baltic pelagic fisheries, the landing obligation, and a number of critical issues related to the Baltic cod fisheries from recreational fishing to the recently removed Marine Stewardship Committee certification of Eastern Baltic Cod.
In line with our minority position in a BSAC letter to the Commission regarding technical measures, FishSec and Coalition Clean Baltic submitted this discussion paper outlining existing research on underwater fishing mortality in the Baltic. In short, nearly 100% of all Baltic herring will die once they enter the mouth of a fishing trawl, regardless of their escape through the trawl’s mesh.
BSAC agreed during the working group meeting to submit a letter to ICES concerning the potential impact of capturing and directly accounting for this mortality on the stock assessment process. All members recognise that underwater mortality occurs and there is a debate about how to manage it.
During BALTFISH, proposals were made to deal with the struggling cod fisheries, stocks, and assessment. The discussion included an update on the 2014 inflow and current cod condition, which appears to be providing less of a positive impact on cod recruitment than hoped. Data is preliminary however and it will take time to evaluate the real impact of this inflow on the Baltic. Also discussed were the relevance of real-time closures, other types of area or seasonal closures, and various selectivity measures for pelagic and demersal fisheries alike to protect in particular the larger, more fecund cod.
Due to the many environmental factors impacting Baltic fisheries, BALTFISH President Macin Rucinski, from the Polish administration, suggested improved collaboration with other groups such as HELCOM. These are better equipped to assess the dynamic ecosystem issues impacting fisheries. Improvement of relations and alignment between HELCOM and BALTFISH is welcome news.
The next BALTFISH technical working group meeting will be in March, and their report on measures to improve the fisheries for Baltic cod is scheduled for June.