Baltic Sea: Massive cuts in baltic herring advised

Scientific Advice states that Baltic Sea herring stocks are below safe levels. NGOs: “stop while there is still time” The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) published its scientific advice. Adding to an already dire situation for cod, ICES now advises that drastic cuts in fishing for Baltic herring are also needed. NGOs and small-scale fishermen alike react with calls for urgent action to taken by decision makers. The alarms went off along the Swedish eastern coast several years ago: there is no longer any larger herring to be caught, a herring used for traditional human consumption. In fact, some coastal fishermen do not find any herring at all. At the same time, larger offshore vessels claim that fishing for herring is fine. This is a pattern seen several times before and not only in the Baltic Sea. The fish starts to disappear along the coast and after a few years the catches in the open sea start also decrease. In the case of the Baltic cod, that ...