The European Council has agreed to set catch limits for key fish stocks in the Baltic Sea for 2026 in line with advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES).
According to the council, the total allowable catch (TAC) for herring, sprat, cod, and plaice will all be in line with the advice as a means of ensuring the sustainability of the stocks so the sector remains viable.
“Today’s agreement is about securing our shared future,” Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries Jacob Jensen said in a release. “With it, we strike a balance between the need to ensure sustainable fishing stock, protect our marine ecosystems, and safeguard the long-term viability of our fishing communities.”
According to the council, sprat will see a 45 percent increase in fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea. Central Baltic herring will see an increase of 15 percent, Gulf of Riga herring will see a decrease of 17 percent, Western Baltic herring will remain unchanged, and Bothnian herring will see a decrease of 40 percent as the stock continues to decrease.
The salmon catch in the Gulf of Finland will increase by 1 percent, while the Baltic main basin salmon catch will be reduced by 27 percent. The plaice catch will also be reduced, dropping 3 percent per scientific advice.
Baltic Sea cod will be once again set at bycatch TACs only for the purpose of allowing it to recover.
“Compared to 2025, the catch limits have been maintained for both Eastern and Western Baltic cod,” the council said.
The council said all of its decisions were based on the scientific advice provided by ICES.
“The Baltic Sea faces numerous challenges, including biodiversity loss, climate change, the effects of overfishing in the past, and high levels of contaminants and litter,” it said. “In order to address these challenges and ensure sustainable fisheries and a healthy marine environment, the E.U. favors a long-term approach to sustainability.”
E.U. fishing trade body Europêche said it welcomed the new agreement on catch limits and said that the final agreement represents “a major improvement” compared to its initial proposal, which would have shuttered companies in the region.
“We welcome the Council’s efforts to strike a better balance between environmental sustainability and the socioeconomic survival of Baltic fishers,” Danish Fishers CEO Kenn Skau Fischer said on behalf of Europêche. “This outcome brings some breathing space for many Baltic fleets that are currently struggling to survive. Fishers have already borne the brunt of drastic reductions and closures, yet the ecosystem remains in a fragile state due to factors far beyond fisheries management.”
While the fishing industry welcomed the TACs, several environmental organizations said the decisions failed to implement legally required safeguards and will jeopardize the ecosystem. According to the NGO, the latest TAC decisions will have negative impacts on the Baltic Sea ecosystem.
“The evidence is clear: The Baltic Sea ecosystem is in severe distress, and current management approaches are not working,” Coalition Clean Baltic Marine Policy Officer Aimi Hamburg said of the TACs. “We need fishing limits set well below single-stock scientific advice to account for ecosystem interactions, data uncertainties, and the critical role these fish species play in the Baltic food web. Instead, the Council has yet again continued to push biological limits to their breaking point.”
The groups called the 45 percent increase to the sprat quota, for example, “reckless” given a potential decreasing trend in recruitment for the species.
“The agreed TACs for small pelagic fish are too high to contribute to the rebuilding of these important populations and, at the same time, to support overall Baltic Sea ecosystem health,” WWF Baltic Sea Program Fisheries Lead Justyna Zajchowska said.
