Concern for the eel in fishing agreements

A continued limited eel fishery in the Baltic Sea remains alive since the fisheries ministers of the EU countries struggled through the night to reach an agreement on future quotas mainly in the North Sea and the Atlantic.

Ålfisket kommer att vara stängt den 15 september 2024 till den 15 mars 2025, om inte Östersjöländerna själva kommer överens om en annan stängningstid.

The eel fishery will be closed from 15 September 2024 to 15 March 2025, unless the Baltic Sea countries themselves agree on a different closing time.

– We have achieved a closure period that is relatively similar to the one Sweden had before, which is good – because then there is still an opportunity for limited, careful, sustainable fishing, which is an important cultural heritage in Sweden, while at the same time we protect the eel’s migration out of the Baltic Sea, says Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren (KD) after Tuesday’s settlement in Brussels.

He is still not completely satisfied.

– I can sense some concern that the fishing opportunity has been extended by 20 days for glass eel (eel fry). That in itself is not developmental for the eel as a species. The best thing is if it is allowed to swim back and reproduce in the Sargasso Sea, says Kullgren, who together with Estonia and Germany demanded a proper investigation of the consequences by next year.

The quota negotiations took place from Sunday until lunchtime on Tuesday and were mainly devoted to disputes regarding the situation in the Bay of Biscay.