EU pelagic industry position paper on fishing opportunities and Coastal States negotiations

Pelagic Fisheries

MAIN POINTS:

• Strong EU action required against other Coastal States’ excessive, unjustified unilateral
  quota and resulting overfishing;
• Highest priority should be given to reaching agreement on all-party sharing arrangements
  for mackerel, blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring, based on genuine historic track
  records and interest as opposed to a flawed, one-dimensional zonal attachment concept;
• Support for the TACs advised by ICES for mackerel (-5%, 739 386 tonnes), blue whiting
  (+12.5%, 1 529 754 tonnes), Atlanto-Scandian herring (-24%, 390.010 tonnes), North Sea
  herring (+28.3%, 532 166), North Sea horse mackerel (+8.5%, 9 730 tonnes) and greater
  silversmelt (+3.6%, 17 695 tonnes);
• For Western horse mackerel, set a provisional TAC in light of the upcoming benchmark, and
  explore alternatives to a zero-catch TAC, considering the long-term viability of the fishery
  and associated fisheries and the limited impact these options would have on future
  spawning biomass levels;
• The 2024 EU-Norway bilateral agreement should contain a strongly reduced input of the
  EU’s blue whiting and restored full access for the EU to fish Atlanto-Scandian herring in
  Norwegian waters.

You can find the position paper here: 20231004 EAPO-NPWG position paper fishing opportunities 2024

The document can also be consulted on the EAPO website under ‘publications’.

Date Posted: 10th October 2023