European Commission adopts proposal for fishing opportunities in Black Sea in 2019
The European Commission said that on October 24 it had adopted a proposal on fishing opportunities in 2019 for the most important commercial fish stocks in the Black Sea.
The catch limit and quota for the two species, sprat and turbot, are shared between Bulgaria and Romania.
The proposal is based on the scientific advice from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), and follows the multiannual management plan for turbot fisheries in the Black Sea, approved by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), the Commission said.
For turbot, the Commission reflects the GFCM multiannual management plan by proposing a catch limit of 114 tons, equally distributed between Bulgaria and Romania.
Considering the stable stock for sprat, the Commission proposes to maintain a catch limit of 11 475 tons, of which 70 per cent will be allocated to Bulgaria and 30 per cent to Romania.
Since 2017, the Commission promotes an enhanced multilateral and co-operative approach to fisheries management in the Black Sea, which builds on the Bucharest Declaration and the Malta MedFish4ever Declaration, the statement said.
For the first time, in 2018, management and control measures for turbot are being implemented at regional level, which is attestation of the shared regional interest to ensure sustainable fisheries on which significant jobs and industries depend, the statement said. Their effective application is enforced through an international joint control and inspection pilot project.
Established with the assistance of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), it contributes to the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing in the basin.
The Commission’s proposal will be examined by the member states at the December Council on Agriculture and Fisheries on December 17 and 18, the statement said.
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