The European Commission has announced a proposal for catch limits for fish stocks in European Union waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Kattegat, and Skagerrak for 2023, and also deep-sea stocks, for 2023 and 2024.
The proposal covers 17 total allowable catches (TACs) for the fisheries operating on stocks managed solely by the E.C. and is based on scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The E.C. said the 2023 limits are in line with the objective of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for eight of the stocks, with an increase in six stocks. This includes a 15 percent increase in the horse mackerel TAC to 158,005 metric tons (MT), and a 33 percent increase in megrim to 3,120 MT.
For plaice in the Kattegat, the E.C. is proposing a TAC of 1,059 MT, which is below the MSY point-value. The move will support the recovery of cod in the same area, which is a bycatch of the fishery and for which there is a zero-catch advice, according to the E.C. However, for hake in the southern Bay of Biscay, Iberian waters, and waters around the Azores (southern hake), the E.C. has proposed a TAC increase of 10 percent to 15,554 MT.
For the other nine stocks, there was insufficient data and so the E.C.’s proposal is based on a “precautionary approach.” For all of these, a rollover or decrease in catch limits has been proposed.
It has also put forward stronger protection for eels due to the stock being at a critical level, with the proposal including an extension of a ban on any eel fishing activity from three to six consecutive months in marine and adjacent brackish waters.
E.U. Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said the proposal for increased catches of Atlantic stocks managed by the E.U. was good news for fishers and comes at the right moment given the “dire economic situation they are facing” as they face rising fuel prices and an inflationary economy.
“The proposal shows that science-based fisheries management pays off. However, I am very concerned about the state of the European eel. We must be decisive in reinforcing the measures at sea and I call on the member states to act without delay on the other pressures on this stock,” he said.
The E.C.’s proposal will be updated after the conclusion of bilateral negotiations with Norway and the United Kingdom, multilateral consultations with coastal states, and the completion of decision-making processes among the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs).
E.U. fisheries ministers are expected to adopt the fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and other areas at the E.C. Fisheries Council meeting on 12 and 13 December, 2022.
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