Denmark's Minister of Fisheries Jacob Jensen is satisfied with Tuesday's agreement on fishing in the Baltic Sea.
A balanced compromise that is in line with the scientific advice we have received, says Jensen, who has led the negotiations due to the fact that Denmark is currently chairman of the EU's Council of Ministers.
But he notes at a press conference in Luxembourg that the fishing situation in the Baltic Sea is "still serious" – and that one country – Sweden – has opposed the compromise reached.
No from Sweden
The EU countries around the Baltic Sea agreed, among other things, to increase the quota for herring in the central Baltic Sea by 15 percent instead of a zero quota that the EU Commission had proposed. And in the Bothnian Sea and the Bay of Bothnia, the herring quota will be reduced by only 40 percent, not by 62 percent as was initially intended.
So we ended up saying no. It would have been better if Sweden had gotten what we wanted. Then the recovery would have gone even faster. Lower quotas give faster recovery, says Peter Kullgren to TT and SR Ekot.
Harsh criticism
Criticism from, for example, Swedish members of the EU Parliament's Fisheries Committee is severe.
"Completely indefensible. The Council of Ministers is deliberately breaking the law", writes Isabella Lövin (Green party) in a statement.
"Unbelievable that they are increasing the quotas despite the warnings of the collapse of the Baltic Sea", says Emma Wiesner via SMS.
Peter Kullgren believes, however, that development is moving forward when it comes to setting more cautious quotas.
But we would have liked to see a better system for conducting these negotiations with more long-term perspective. We need to sharpen ourselves, says Kullgren in Luxembourg.
Wiktor Nummelin/TT
Facts: Catch quotas in the Baltic Sea 2026
TT
This is how the EU member states have decided on next year's fishing quotas in the Baltic Sea (compared in percent with last year in parentheses):
Herring in the Bothnian Sea and the Bay of Bothnia: 39,108 tons (-40 percent)
Herring in the western Baltic Sea: 788 tons, only as bycatch (unchanged)
Herring in the central Baltic Sea: 96,463 tons (+15)
Herring in the Gulf of Riga: 34,367 tons (-10)
Cod in the eastern Baltic Sea: 430 tons, only as bycatch (unchanged)
Cod in the western Baltic Sea: 266 tons, only as bycatch (unchanged)
Plaice: 11,313 tons (unchanged)
Skarpsill: 201,975 tons (+45)
Salmon in the Baltic Sea: 25,537 pieces (-27)
Salmon in the Gulf of Finland: 10,232 (+1)
Source: EU Council of Ministers
