The European Commission has adopted a proposal offering support from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund to fishermen affected by the closure of the Eastern Baltic cod fishery to permanently decommission their fishing vessels. Cod fisheries is important in the Eastern Baltic Sea, but the stock is in very poor shape. At the Council meeting in mid-October, fisheries ministers agreed on a Commission proposal to reduce fishing possibilities in 2020 to almost zero. While this step is necessary to give the stock a chance to recover, it also means severe and unavoidable economic hardship for the fleets and fishing communities traditionally fishing this stock.
The proposal aims is to mitigate the economic impact of the closure and extend a helping hand to the fishermen and women who will be hit hardest. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) offers them financial support in this economically difficult situation. The proposal allows the affected countries, to use unspent EMFF funds to support permanent decommissioning of vessels targeting Eastern Baltic cod. In addition, the proposal limits the number of vessels that can fish for Eastern Baltic cod, ensuring that capacity withdrawn from the fleet with EMFF support lowers the pressure on the cod stock and helps it recover over time. The proposal does not increase the EMFF funding per Member State nor the EU’s overall budgetary contribution. In addition, starting from 2020, vessels fishing for cod in the Eastern Baltic should be equipped with a vessel monitoring system. Furthermore, at least 20% of these vessels should have observers on board. This will allow scientists to gather more and better data on how the stock is doing and how fisheries are affecting it.
