Bijdrage visse­rij­com­missie over de over­be­vissing van kabeljauw, haring en andere bedreigde vissoorten in de Oostzee

Anja Hazekamp (PvdD): Dear representatives of the Commission,

The Baltic Sea is a unique peace of nature in which areas with fresh water, brackish water and marine species are all present. However, lots of those species are being threatened by harmful activities such as intensive agriculture, overfishing, and bottom trawling. These activities have been putting pressure on the ecological systems in the Baltic Sea for decades now.

When I was shadow rapporteur on the Multi Annual Plan for the Baltic Sea in 2015 and 2016, I already feared that the provisions of that plan would not be sufficient to give fish populations and other marine species in the Baltic Sea a fair opportunity to recover.

Today we see that several fish species in the Baltic Sea have almost been driven to extinction. For example, the population of Western Baltic Herring is now critically endangered, and for the last 2 years ICES has been recommending a zero-catch advice for this species.

Nevertheless, the Commission, for the second year in a row, is proposing to continue to overfish the Western Baltic Herring and other threatened species in the Baltic, like the Cod. Contrary to the best available scientific advice, contrary to Sustainable Development Goal to end overfishing by 2020 and contrary to the objectives in Article 2 of the CFP. And, contrary to the promises of the Commissioner that he wanted to stop overfishing.

I’d like to ask the Commission, why it continues to facilitate such short term greed, instead of suspending the targeted fishery on Western Baltic Herring and other endangered species like the Eastern and Western Baltic Cod.

It is unacceptable that the Council and the Commission are neglecting UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, by doing everything they can to facilitate overfishing, even beyond 2020.

Thank you.