Advice & Recommendations

Adopted by the Executive Committee on Thursday 29th June, sent on Monday 3rd July 2023.

The BSAC Demersal Working Group has been discussing the rationale for measures aimed at protecting cod spawning areas under Article 7 of the Council Regulation on fishing opportunities1. 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”.

The BSAC recommends the Commission to evaluate the effectiveness of all the measures to protect cod spawning areas. Allowing for a thorough evaluation will require specifically to look at cod spawning areas and depth around the Baltic. By-catch levels for each specific fishery should also be considered.

BSAC comments on the amendments to the BALTFISH draft Joint
Recommendation regarding a derogation from the landing obligation in the Baltic
Sea establishing a discard plan as regards salmon in the Baltic Sea (ICES
Subdivisions 22-32)

The BSAC Executive Committee was consulted and asked if they wanted to raise further comments from the ones sent to BALTFISH on the 27th October 2022 or on the 22nd February 2023 on the same draft Joint Recommendation.

The BSAC Executive Committee Chair was invited to take part in the BALTFISH High Level Group, online, on the 24th April 2023.

The BSAC input was drafted based on the past and future BSAC meetings agendas and latest work of BSAC with BALTFISH. It was validated by the Executive Committee through written procedure.

The BSAC recommends that, in general, in geographically close areas, legal rules should be implemented in the same way in all Member States so that there is a transparent level playing field for all fishers, regardless of the location from where they operate in the concerned area. This is to prevent uneven conditions for fishers in different countries. Therefore, the BSAC recommends Member States to consult each other and find agreements so that they can ensure harmonised implementation of the rules at sea and in port.

The recommendations have been adopted on the 5th April 2023, sent 11th April 2023.

The BSAC Ecosystem Based Management Working Group, at its meetings held on 26^th October 2022 and 17^th February 2023, discussed the effects of offshore wind farms (OWF) on fisheries. The reports from these meetings are available on BSAC website. The recommendations were adopted by the BSAC ExCom through written procedure on 5^th April 2023.
The BSAC recognises the importance of decarbonising the European energy system and the role of OWF in this endeavour. This political priority needs to follow strict guidance not to come at unbalanced expense of traditional activities such as commercial and recreational fisheries and livelihoods.
Commitments of the offshore wind farms renewable installation objectives are huge with regards to the Baltic Sea size and level of current activity at sea. Its specific conditions as a shallow and enclosed brackish sea with severely impacted ecosystems and poor environmental status also stresses the need for an even more precautionary approach to offshore windfarm developments.

The BSAC has formulated 5 consensus recommendations.

The BSAC membership was consultedon the draft Joint Recommendation, and we received comments from 5 members (detailed in the Annex of the letter).
The short deadline did not allow for a BSAC meeting dedicated to this topic.

BSAC comments on the additional document from the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) to complement BALTFISH draft Joint Recommendation regarding a derogation from the landing obligation in the Baltic Sea establishing a discard plan as regards salmon in the Baltic Sea (ICES Subdivisions 22-32)

The BSAC Executive Committee was consulted and asked if they wanted to raise further comments from the ones sent to BALTFISH on the 27th October 2022 on the same draft Joint Recommendation.

Letter to the European Commission regarding support and promotion of the work of the ACs, co-signed by all Advisory Councils.

ExCom approved the letter and it was jointly sent on the 3rd February 2023.

The BSAC replied to a letter exchange dating from December 2022 addressing the issue of Western Baltic Herring. It asked if the BSAC recommendations (1) to use the EU MultiAnnual Plan (MAP) for the Baltic Sea to act as a rebuilding plan and (2) to request ICES to put the EU MAP advice as its headline advice for 2024 were still considered by the Commission.

The Commission answered on the 25.07.2023, explaining that the decision of the Council on the management of Western Baltic spring spawning herring in the Baltic for 2023 was based on the Baltic MAP. Pursuant to Article 5(2) in conjunction with Article 4(4) of the Baltic MAP, the Council kept closed the directed fishery and set a TAC for unavoidable by-catches.
The Commission further explained that they are currently focusing on incentivizing spatial-temporal measures aimed at alleviating the fishing pressure on the stock given its intermixing with North Sea autumn spawning herring.
There are no discussions today on a rebuilding plan with UK and Norway for this stock since these countries do not consider themselves responsible for the management of the stock. The Commission expressed the view that the development of a rebuilding plan should be handled as a domestic management issue.

The BSAC Executive Committe Chair was invited to present the BSAC position on the Baltic Sea MultiAnnual Plan to the European Parliament Fisheries (PECH) Committee Hearing on the 23rd January.

Sent date:30/12/2022 | Reply date:25/01/2023

Sent date:06/12/2022 | Reply date:16/12/2022