"Stabilising the stocks in the Baltic Sea is a huge step" said Horst Seehofer, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, today in Luxembourg, following the vote on the multi-year plan for Baltic cod stocks. "This smoothes the way to saving Baltic cod via sustainable rebuilding of the stocks." This is of great importance, as: "Larger and more secure stocks also help to safeguard the livelihood of the German Baltic Sea fishing industry," says Seehofer.
The minister was delighted that, following difficult and lengthy negotiations, the Fisheries Council had managed, by mutual consent, to adopt a multi-year plan on the management of the cod stocks. This plan provides for a step-by-step reduction in the fishing mortality rate, so that both stocks are managed sustainably in the long term. Seehofer underlined that, during the negotiations held under the German Presidency, a balance had successfully been found between the necessity of rebuilding stocks on the one hand and the justified socio-economic interests on the other, in particular those of the coastal fishing industries in the eight EU States which border on the Baltic Sea,.
The regulation also means that account is taken of the concerns expressed by the Regional Advisory Council competent for fishing in the Baltic Sea (Baltic Sea RAC) at a conference held in March 2007 in Copenhagen, where the RAC, together with the EU States bordering on the Baltic Sea, called for there to be improvements in cod management and the accompanying control measures.
Detailed results, and the German Presidency's programme, can be found under www.bmelv.de.
