Transcript Baltic fish and Baltic fisheries OCB 2015

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Nils: CCB fishery policy officer
Baltic ecosystem and Baltic fisheries
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The Baltic Sea:
Semi-closed water body = strong influence of
environmental factors
“Low” species richness
Strong trophic interactions
Pollution/Eutrophication
High fishing pressure
Increasing competition for space andresources (shipping,
wind farms)
90% EU Member States (coastal)
The players: EU Commission, EU Parliament, BALTFISH
(m.s.)Regional Advisory Council (BSAC), fishermen, NGOs
Main species and stocks in Commercial
fishery
Marine species
• Eastern Cod
• Western Cod
• Central Herring
• Western Herring
• GoR Herring
• Bothnian Sea Herring
• Bothnian Bay Herring
• Sprat
• Main Basin Salmon
• GoF Salmon
• Sea trout
• Plaice
• Flounder
• Turbot
Coastal/river species
(also migratory)
• Salmon-Sea trout
• Eel
• White fish
• Perch
• Pike
• Pike Perch
• Baltic Vimba
• Several other
cyprinids like roach,
bream
Underlined have a TAC = a set catch amount is decided by
EU Member States each year, the rest up to each MS
The fishing
Length
Class
Vessels
< 12 meters (most passive)
Vessels
>12 meters (25-40m)
Total
-trend is pointing downward
2012
4525
767
5 292
Economics in Baltic Sea?
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Large or very large vessels targeting pelagics
(herring/sprat): 92% total weight and 79% of value
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Small scale vessels cod, flounder, plaice etc: 8%
weight and 21 % of value
= if you want to make money: fish for small fish going to
fish meal factories!
Number of employees in total difficult to calculate because
of part time work. In Full Time Equivalents: ca 7300 jobs in
total (observe: some of which are not fishing in Baltic only)
Catch examples for cod
85% trawl
15% passive gears
And the other stocks?
• Baltic salmon: today only dk and pl fish at sea. Fi, se.
fish salmon close to coast and near rivers (de,ee,lv,lt
more a bycatch)
• Sea trout: often caught with salmon in same gear,
bycatch.
• Whitefish: also targeted with nets and traps (salmon
traps) but also bycatch
• Eel: fishing has declined but is ongoing (?). More or
less exclusively in traps
What´s the problem with all this?
Problem 1: we overfish! science vs fishermen (example is cod)
YEAR
ICES ADVICE
Advice TAC (1000 tonnes)
Politically set TAC
Actual catches
2005
No fishing
0
42.8
55**
2006
< 14.9
49.2
66**
2007
Develop Management
plan
No fishing
0
44.3
51**
2008
No fishing
0
42.3***
42**
2009
Limit (total) landings to
48 600 t
Follow management
plan
See scenarios
≤ 48.6
49.38***
48**
56.8
56.1***
50
-
64.5***
50
Follow management
plan
Follow management
plan
Follow management
plan
20% reduction in
catches
Precautionary
approach
74.2
74.2***
51
65.9
68.7***
31 ??
70.3
73.4***
38.5 ??
29.085
55.8 ***
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
≤ 29 220
What´s the problem with all this?
Problem 2: how we fish
• The way fishing is conducted: trawls dominate
• Small scale fishery with less impacting gears
struggle because there is no fish on coasts!
• More and more fish is taken for fish meal and
not human consumption
= the small scale fishery is disappearing, creates
social impacts and rural towns close down.
but also..
What´s the problem with all this?
Problem 3: side effects in nature
• Bycatch and poor selectivity the norm, trawls cant catch what
they actually are after: catch everything
• Gear destroy and disturb bottoms
• Fish stocks become stressed enough that their genetic
selection change: smaller, spawn earlier
• We change the basic structure of the ecosystem when no
more predator fish exist and we are left with herring and sprat
• Bycatch of birds and mammals have drastic effect on
abundance (esp. harbour porpoises and observe in nets =
otherwise good gears)
= The way we fish impact far beyond the fish stocks alone
CCB main views
• Fishing is one part of many effecting ecosystems
and the environmental goals must be reached –
fishery management must lead to Good
Environmental Status/healthy stocks (MSFD/HELCOM)
• Fish less and in a low impact fishery: fishermen
with best behavior, good selectivity and less
environmental impact should be allowed to fish
• Create more/better protected areas for fish and
other wildlife
CCBs work today
• Active participation in advisory body (BSAC)
• Address Member States in Baltfish and HELCOM
• Continuous contacts with Commission and European
Parliament MEPs
• Prepare statements and inputs based on existing rules
and science, but also influence new rules
• Coordination with other NGOs, joint letter, meeting
preparations (CCB members, FISH Sec, WWF, OCEANA, Birdlife)
• Policy oriented: implementation and development of
policy/rules
Thanks for listening