Today, the Ministry of the Environment received prior notification from the European Commission concerning the decision planned to be taken by the European Communities on April 14 prohibiting trawling fishery of cod and flatfishes in the European Union (EU) waters from April 15 to May 31, 2003. According to the decision taken by the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission (IBSFC), this will be followed by the overall prohibition on cod catch at the Baltic Sea from June 1 to August 31. According to Mr. Ain Soome, Head of Fish Resources Department of the Ministry of the Environment, the reason for temporary prohibition on catches is the fact that the young stages of cod stock that will be subject to fishing are in good state, however, due to the low selectivity level of trawler catch it is currently impossible to let undersized cod alive back into water. The objective of the temporary prohibition is to facilitate improvement of the state of cod stock in the Baltic Sea. "Estonian trawlers which have obtained the cod fishing possibility in the EU waters within 2003 will not be able to catch cod there in the period mentioned above. Hopefully new possibilities for Estonian trawlers will open up in autumn - for this purpose, new negotiations will need to be held with the EU," said Mr. Soome. There are currently 14 trawlers in Estonia for which, according to the agreement concluded with the EU in the end of 2002, cod fishing possibilities in the EU waters within 2003 have been calculated on the basis of the Fisheries Act. In total, Estonian vessels have the right to catch 650 tons of cod in the EU waters within 2003. The prohibition does not concern gill-netters , seven of those deal with cod fishing. For additional information please contact: |
