Herring quotas will be increased next year in both the central Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, and the Riga Bay. The sprat quota will be reduced, but not as much as the EU Commission had proposed.
Everything has now been decided by the EU's fisheries ministers.
It's mixed feelings. Sweden's approach to this was that we would keep the quotas as low as possible. I think we've done that. But Sweden would actually like to go even further, says Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren (KD) to TT and SR Ekot.
Sharp Criticism
However, Sweden had to give in to the majority, where, among others, Finland advocated for increased quotas.
"With today's agreement, we are aiming for a balance between helping fish recover, protecting marine ecosystems, and guaranteeing the sector's future viability," writes Agriculture Minister István Nagy from the Council Presidency, Hungary, in a statement.
The criticism is, however, sharp, not least from Swedish members of the EU Parliament.
"Regrettably, not more countries understand the serious situation in the Baltic Sea," writes Jessica Polfjärd (M) on X.
Emma Wiesner (C) talks about a "death sentence for the Baltic Sea", Sofie Eriksson (S) about a "pure catastrophe", and Karin Karlsbro (L) about a "sad day".
Isabella Lövin (MP) wants to see a new long-term plan for the Baltic Sea and believes that Kullgren has failed.
He hasn't managed to reduce the quota by a single percent and yet he's backing this proposal. Cod has already collapsed. Herring and sprat are showing clear signs of also collapsing, she says to TT.
"Easy to be Tough"
Kullgren, however, calls for "sense in the debate" and points fingers at the opposition instead.
They can get a lot of criticism back: why didn't you do anything during the eight years you were in power? Why didn't you ever manage to reach the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea's minimum recommendations during the entire time the multi-year plans have been in place? It's easy to be tough in opposition, but they never took a strong stance and never managed to get to this level, says Kullgren in Luxembourg.
When we were in government, we followed the scientific advice entirely when it came to herring, but it has since turned out that the advice was far too high, defends Lövin.
This is what next year's fishing quotas will look like for the Baltic Sea (compared to 2024 in percent in parentheses):
Herring in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Bay of Bothnia: 66,466 tons (+21 percent)
Herring in western Baltic Sea: 788 tons, only as bycatch, but with the possibility of small-scale fishing (unchanged)
Herring in central Baltic Sea: 83,881 tons (+108)
Herring in the Riga Bay: 41,635 tons (+10)
Cod in eastern Baltic Sea: 430 tons, only as bycatch (-28)
Cod in western Baltic Sea: 266 tons, only as bycatch (-21)
Rödspätta: 11,313 tons (unchanged)
Sprat: 139,500 tons (-31)
Salmon in the Baltic Sea: 34,787 pieces (-36)
Salmon in the Gulf of Finland: 8,117 pieces (-20)
Source: EU Council of Ministers.
