Advice & Recommendations

BSAC agreed on input to the HELCOM FISH meeting regarding identifying the fish species for which there is a need for better data under the Baltic Sea Action Plan Action S40.

This input was presented to the HELCOM FISH meeting on 13th March 2024.

This document presents the BSAC response to the questions from the Commission regarding two specific actions of the CFP Communication:

1. The further development of social indicators to be used in the analysis of socio-economic reports with the help of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).
2. Discussions among Member States and stakeholders with a view to preparing a vademecum on the allocation of fishing opportunities to improve transparency, promote sustainable practices across the EU and support small-scale and coastal fishers

The BSAC response has been elaborated based on members answers to a written consultation and discussions on the CFP Communication that took place in the Working Groups. The draft was circulated for comments of the members then validated by the Executive Committee on 15^th April 2024.

On 6^th December 2023, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a Regulation amending the Multiannual Plan for the Baltic[1] (the MAP) and opened the possibility to send some feedback on the proposal until 31^st January 2024.

The Executive Committee adopted the BSAC reply on 24^th January 2024.

DG MARE invited the BSAC Chair and Vice Chair to the roundtable with the Commissioner. BSAC agreed on a written input and received an answer in April 2024.

In response to the Commission letter of  the 10th November, BSAC invited the Commission to discuss ongoing and future ICES requests at the next Executive Committee.

The Advisory Councils together sent a letter to the Commission on taking into account stakeholders’ input.

This document sets out the BSAC recommendations in relation to the EU Action Plan: Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries.

The recommendations are set out in line with the structure of the Commission document. Different actions are referred to under respective chapters.

The first report on the implementation of the Technical Measures Regulation (TMR) has been adopted in September 2021. This report was based on the scientific information provided by STECF and ICES, and on the results of the consultation. The BSAC provided the Commission with a reply to its questionnaire about the functioning of the EU Technical Measures Framework Regulation on 15^th February 2021. With a view to contributing to the 2024 evaluation report, the Commission invited the Advisory Councils to provide their general views on the implementation, and concrete views regarding specific aspects of the Regulation through a new questionnaire.

The BSAC members were invited to provide written input. The BSAC set up a Focus Group to deal with the Commission questionnaire on implementation of the Technical Measures Regulation. The final answer was validated by the Executive Committee on the 24^th November 2023 (also the deadline for replies to the Commission).

After the Commission has received input from the Advisory Councils, from the Member States, and an evaluation by the STECF, the Commission will prepare its report.

The BSAC provided the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) with its recommendations on STECF’s 2023 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet (hereafter the AER).

Following on the BSAC recommendations concerning the development of offshore windfarms (OWF) in the Baltic Sea and the Commission answer of 11th July 2023, the BSAC welcomed that the Commission has put forward a non-recurrent request to ICES to examine the impact of OWF on the environment and recommended the Commission to make its request to ICES recurrent.

The BSAC insisted on

• compensation of the impacts of OWF (covering present and future, even unforeseen cumulative impacts.
• the effects of decommissioning OWF

The BSAC was consulted on two draft Joint Recommendation regarding fisheries conservation measures in five marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea

3 BSAC members answered and give a detailed position on the proposed draft JR that are annexed to the letter.

The letter is also sent to the BALTFISH Presidency and Member States representatives at BSAC.

The provisions of the Regulation on fishing opportunities restrict the fishery in SDs 22-23 from February to March and in SD 24-26 during the summer months (May – August) “to protect cod spawning process”.

ICES noted that there is a lack of specific data on by-catch of cod at 20 m and 30 m depths for active and passive gears

BSAC recommends that BALTFISH Member States allow scientific test fishing to be carried out to find evidence that there is no cod bycatch between 20 and 30 m depth.