Advice & Recommendations

DG MARE invited the BSAC Chair and Vice Chair to the roundtable with the Commissioner. BSAC agreed on a written input and received an answer in April 2024.

In response to the Commission letter of  the 10th November, BSAC invited the Commission to discuss ongoing and future ICES requests at the next Executive Committee.

The Advisory Councils together sent a letter to the Commission on taking into account stakeholders’ input.

This document sets out the BSAC recommendations in relation to the EU Action Plan: Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries.

The recommendations are set out in line with the structure of the Commission document. Different actions are referred to under respective chapters.

The first report on the implementation of the Technical Measures Regulation (TMR) has been adopted in September 2021. This report was based on the scientific information provided by STECF and ICES, and on the results of the consultation. The BSAC provided the Commission with a reply to its questionnaire about the functioning of the EU Technical Measures Framework Regulation on 15^th February 2021. With a view to contributing to the 2024 evaluation report, the Commission invited the Advisory Councils to provide their general views on the implementation, and concrete views regarding specific aspects of the Regulation through a new questionnaire.

The BSAC members were invited to provide written input. The BSAC set up a Focus Group to deal with the Commission questionnaire on implementation of the Technical Measures Regulation. The final answer was validated by the Executive Committee on the 24^th November 2023 (also the deadline for replies to the Commission).

After the Commission has received input from the Advisory Councils, from the Member States, and an evaluation by the STECF, the Commission will prepare its report.

The BSAC provided the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) with its recommendations on STECF’s 2023 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet (hereafter the AER).

Following on the BSAC recommendations concerning the development of offshore windfarms (OWF) in the Baltic Sea and the Commission answer of 11th July 2023, the BSAC welcomed that the Commission has put forward a non-recurrent request to ICES to examine the impact of OWF on the environment and recommended the Commission to make its request to ICES recurrent.

The BSAC insisted on

• compensation of the impacts of OWF (covering present and future, even unforeseen cumulative impacts.
• the effects of decommissioning OWF

The BSAC was consulted on two draft Joint Recommendation regarding fisheries conservation measures in five marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea

3 BSAC members answered and give a detailed position on the proposed draft JR that are annexed to the letter.

The letter is also sent to the BALTFISH Presidency and Member States representatives at BSAC.

The provisions of the Regulation on fishing opportunities restrict the fishery in SDs 22-23 from February to March and in SD 24-26 during the summer months (May – August) “to protect cod spawning process”.

ICES noted that there is a lack of specific data on by-catch of cod at 20 m and 30 m depths for active and passive gears

BSAC recommends that BALTFISH Member States allow scientific test fishing to be carried out to find evidence that there is no cod bycatch between 20 and 30 m depth.

In the context of the Marine Action Plan published in February 2023 and in general, BSAC recommends the STECF and the Commission to invite relevant external experts to its meeting.

BSAC also raises two questions:

• What timeline STECF will adopt for the development of the advice foreseen in the Marine Action Plan?
• How STECF will understand the term ‘highest long-term yield’ in the mixed fisheries context ?

In this letter following-up on the BALTFISH Forum meeting discussions, the BSAC highlighted that:

• It is of the opinion that proposals such as the one made this year by the Commission in terms of fishing opportunities should be developed also in the light of their socio-economic impact.
• It recommends to the Commission to ask ICES to evaluate the new method behind setting reference points for central herring.
• It would like to ask the Commission for more transparency in requesting scientific advice

The BSAC sent a letter to the Commission, member States and ICES on eel and the Joint Special Group.

The BSAC wants to highlight that European eel is a great example of topic that should be on the work programme of the Group. It is an important file to be discussed by both fisheries and environmental ministries and stakeholders.

The BSAC recommends that the Commission publicly share the draft update of the Eel Management Plan guidance document.

The BSAC recommends that the Commission also enquires on how the agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction or “High Seas Treaty”, recently signed by the EU, could help protecting eels throughout their life cycle.