Fishing boat
(BRUSSELS) – A plan for fishing opportunities for 2022 in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, set out Friday by the EU Commission, reflects its ambition for achieving sustainable fisheries in these two sea basins.
The Commission said the proposal promoted the sustainable management of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas and delivers on the political commitments made in the MedFish4Ever and Sofia Declarations.
Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said: “Sustainable fisheries management in all of the EU’s sea basins is our commitment and responsibility. While we have seen some improvement in recent years in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, we are still far from reaching sustainable levels and more effort is needed to achieve this goal. We are, therefore, today making our proposal for fish catches in the two sea basins fully reliant on scientific advice.”
In the Adriatic Sea, the Commission’s proposal implements the GFCM Mediterranean multiannual management plan for demersal stocks and its goal to reach sustainability for these stocks by 2026 through a decrease of the fishing effort. The proposal also incorporates various management measures for eel, red coral, dolphinfish, blackspot seabream, and deep-water shrimp stocks in the Ionian and Levant Seas and the Strait of Sicily, in line with GFCM decisions.
The EU executive says its proposal implements the Western Mediterranean multiannual management plan (MAP) for demersal stocks with the aim of further reducing the fishing, in line with scientific advice. This part of the proposal will be complemented once the relevant scientific advice this year becomes available. The ultimate objective is to reach the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) – the maximum amount of fish that fishers can take out of the sea without compromising the regeneration and future productivity of the stock – by 1 January 2025 at the latest.
In the Black Sea, the proposal includes catch limits and quotas for turbot and sprat. For turbot, the proposal transposes the EU quota decided in the revision of the GFCM turbot multiannual management plan. For sprat, it is proposed to maintain the same catch limit as in 2021.
The EU Fisheries Council will discuss the Commission proposal in December and establish the allocation of fishing opportunities. The regulation should apply as of 1 January 2022.
Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing for 2022 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
