Multiannual plan for Baltic fisheries

Briefing 17-02-2016

Multiannual plans for fisheries management are an essential tool to ensure the sustainable exploitation of fish stocks and marine ecosystems. They also offer increased predictability to fishermen in the long run. In October 2014, the European Commission proposed a multiannual plan for stocks of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and for the fisheries exploiting them. This Baltic multiannual and multispecies plan is the first proposed plan to build on the principles of the 2013 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Seen as a test case, it may have some spill-over effect on new proposals for multiannual plans, some of which are expected from the European Commission in the near future. The Council adopted its general approach on 20 April 2015, and the European Parliament voted on legislative amendments in plenary on 28 April, before referring the matter back to the Committee on Fisheries. Interinstitutional trilogue negotiations, which started in May 2015, have however proven lengthy and difficult. While discussing the priorities of the Council Presidency at the meeting of the Committee for Fisheries in mid-January 2015, the Dutch Fisheries Minister and the Parliament's rapporteur expressed their willingness and hope to come to a satisfactory agreement. A more recent edition of this document is available. Find it by searching by the document title at this address: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/home.html