Regulation 2020/1781 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 as regards fishing capacity reduction in the Baltic Sea, and Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 as regards permanent cessation of fishing activities for fleets fishing for Eastern Baltic cod, Western Baltic cod and Western Baltic herring - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 400/1

Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) establishes a multiannual plan for the stocks of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea (‘the Baltic Multiannual Plan’). The Baltic Multiannual Plan is to implement the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management in order to ensure that negative impacts of fishing activities on the marine ecosystem are minimised. It is to be coherent with Union environmental legislation, in particular with the objective of achieving good environmental status in the marine environment by 2020 as set out in Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

The provisions of the Baltic Multiannual Plan regarding the adoption of details for the implementation of the landing obligation provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) in Union waters of the Baltic Sea should also apply to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) as regards the high survivability exemption.

According to scientific assessment carried out by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), many species and habitats of the Baltic Sea are not in good condition. Annual nutrient inputs still exceed regionally agreed goals in the central Baltic Sea, the Archipelago Sea and the Gulf of Finland. Nutrient concentrations remain relatively high, as does the extent of deep-water areas with poor or no oxygen. Contaminant levels remain elevated compared with most European seas. That overall environmental situation affects food web functionality, reduces resilience and resistance against further environmental changes, and diminishes prospects for socioeconomic benefits, including fishing opportunities.

The declining condition of Eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) has been linked to that situation. According to ICES, the stock of Eastern Baltic cod suffers from an unsustainably low biomass due to a combination of declining recruitment, low availability of prey species, environmental factors and changes in the ecosystem – such as oxygen depletion, increased temperature or pollution – leading to a high natural mortality approximately three times the fishing mortality, and an excessive fishing mortality given the status of the stock. The biomass of commercial sized Eastern Baltic cod is currently at the lowest level observed since the 1950s. Moreover, ICES estimated that the Eastern Baltic cod spawning stock biomass will remain below the sustainability reference point in the medium-term (until 2024) even with no fishing at all, and therefore advised zero catches in its stock advice for 2020.

The Baltic Multiannual Plan requires that, when scientific advice indicates that a stock is under threat, remedial measures are to be taken, including the reduction of fishing opportunities and specific conservation measures, and that those measures are to be supplemented by all other appropriate...