“Approval of the plan means that the cod quotas for this year will remain at the levels agreed at the end of last year,” explained Ain Soome, director of the Fisheries Resources Department of the Ministry of the Environment. “If they hadn’t, every member state would have to have reduced its quotas by 15 percent.” Estonia’s cod fishing quota in the Baltic Sea for 2007 will be a total of 1171 tonnes. According to the action plan agreed by the Fisheries Council, the Baltic Sea cod quotas will be reduced each year by 15 percent and the fishing ban extended by 10 percent until the levels of cod reserves recommended by scientists are achieved. The plan otherwise retains the majority of protective measures for cod that have already been enacted this year. “By adopting the plan we are ensuring that we won’t need to have long, drawn-out debates in the coming years in setting quotas about protective measures for the fish, as the plan itself is long-term in nature,” Soome added. Estonia, who supported the approval of the plan, nevertheless achieved a compromise during negotiations. In the northern parts of the Baltic, including Estonian waters, in which cod are found in minimal numbers, catching methods to which the ban extends will still be able to be used until the cod return in larger numbers. “The compromise was very important for Estonia, because the same methods are used to catch flounder and coastal species like perch and pike-perch,” Soome said. “A ban would have severely restricted beach fishing in Estonia, even though cod is very rarely caught here.” Official figures state that approximately 600 kilograms of cod were caught in Estonian waters in 2006. The total catch in the Baltic Sea by Estonian fishermen in the same period was 702.4 tonnes, with most operating in the Danish and Swedish economic zone of the southern Baltic – a joint European Union fishing area. For further information please contact: Maris Jakobson |
