Commission proposes financial aid for Eastern Baltic cod fishery

The Commission has adopted a proposal offering support from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund to fishermen affected by the closure of the Eastern Baltic cod fishery to permanently decommission their fishing vessels.

(…)

Eastern cod is one of the key fisheries in the Baltic Sea, but the stock is in very poor shape. At the Council meeting on 14-15 October, fisheries ministers followed a Commission proposal and agreed to reduce fishing possibilities in 2020 to almost zero. While this step is necessary to give the stock a chance to recover, the Commission recognises that it also means severe and unavoidable economic hardship for the fleets and fishing communities traditionally targeting this stock. With today's proposal, the Commission aims to mitigate the economic impact of the closure and extend a helping hand to those fishermen and women who will be hit hardest. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) offers them financial support in this economically difficult situation.

In particular, the proposal allows the affected Member States, under certain conditions, to use some of their unspent EMFF funds to support vessel owners wishing to permanently decommission their vessels targeting Eastern Baltic cod. At the same time, the proposal caps the number of vessels that can fish for Eastern Baltic cod, ensuring that capacity withdrawn from the fleet with EMFF support lowers the pressure on the cod stock and helps it recover over time. The proposal does not increase the EMFF funding per Member State nor the EU's overall budgetary contribution.

In addition, given the exceptionally fragile state of the Baltic Sea ecosystem, the Commission proposes to reinforce control and data collection in the Baltic Sea, even beyond the current closure period. Starting from 2020, vessels fishing for cod in the Eastern Baltic Sea should be equipped with a vessel monitoring system or other equivalent electronic monitoring system. Furthermore, at least 20% of these vessels should have observers on board. This will allow scientists to gather more and better data on how the stock is doing and how fisheries are affecting this crucial stock.

(…)

The full article as well as further information can be found at ec.europa.eu