Published on November 28, 2024 in press release format No. 135/2024
The EU Commission has expanded regulations for mobile bottom-touch fishing
A package of measures will strengthen the protection of sensitive habitats such as reefs and sandbanks in the marine protected areas of the German exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. That was what they had in common Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL) committed to implementing effective marine protection with a perspective for sustainable fishing. The European Commission has adopted proposals that Germany had agreed with the EU’s neighboring states on the Baltic Sea. Under EU law, member states are obliged to strengthen marine protection.
Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Claudia Müller: “Our fisheries are the basis of livelihood for many people on the coast and ensure added value in rural regions, even far beyond fishing. In order to preserve all of this and give our fishermen a future, we must increase our efforts for sustainable fishing. The package of measures ensures that protection and benefit go hand in hand. This ensures effective marine protection and a healthy ecosystem – and the fishery depends on this.”
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke: “Our seas are in poor condition, the Baltic Sea in particular is suffering from the diverse uses and the climate crisis. Marine protected areas are important to strengthen the resilience of the Baltic Sea. By excluding trawling in large parts of our protected areas, we are now making an important one Step towards strengthening them and thus preserving threatened species and habitats.”
With the delegated act of the European Commission, a joint recommendation of the fisheries regional group of the EU Baltic Sea states – the so-called BALTFISH group – is implemented into EU law. The package makes a major contribution to the preservation of biological diversity in the marine protected areas of the Natura 2000 network and to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which Germany is obliged to implement under EU law. The EU Commission’s package includes fisheries management measures in five Natura 2000 marine protected areas in the German exclusive economic zone: Fehmarnbelt, Kadetrinne, Western Rönnebank, Adlergrund and Pomeranian Bay with Oderbank. Fishing with mobile bottom-touching fishing gear such as trawls or seining nets is no longer allowed to take place all year round in large parts of these protected areas. The areas cover around 27% of the area of the German exclusive economic zone of the Baltic Sea and around two thirds (66%) of the existing protected area areas. In the Pomeranian Bight-Oderbank, the new protective measures mean that this large marine protected area – including the Oderbank, the largest sandbank in the German Baltic Sea – is now better protected. This is an important habitat for many species, from the smallest bottom creatures such as mussels or crabs to migratory fish to protected seabirds and marine mammals such as porpoises, for food, rest and reproduction as well as the rearing of young animals.
background:
The legal act was published today in the Official Journal of the European Union. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is the area beyond the territorial sea, i.e. the maritime area at a distance of 12 to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the coastline, in which the coastal state can exercise sovereign rights and sovereign powers to a limited extent. The federal government is responsible for the protected areas in the EEZ, while the areas in the territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles) are the responsibility of the federal states. The EU nature conservation guidelines (the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive and the Bird Protection Directive) name species and habitats for which protected areas must be designated in order to achieve an ecologically coherent network of protected areas (NATURA 2000).
According to Article 6 of the EU Habitats Directive and Article 4 of the EU Birds Directive, Germany has the obligation to establish measures for the preservation or restoration of the so-called “favorable conservation status” of these species and habitats. There are also obligations under Article 13(4) of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The measures for professional fishing are determined by EU law within the framework of the Regulation on the Common Fisheries Policy. To this end, measures to regulate fishing must be coordinated with all economically affected EU member states. If an agreement has been reached with all affected states, a “joint recommendation” can then be submitted to the responsible regional group of the European Commission, which will then make this binding in an EU regulation.
Further information:
- DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2024/2943 OF THE COMMISSION amending the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/117 regarding conservation measures in the Baltic Sea areas of Fehmarnbelt, Kadetrinne, Western Rönnebank, Adlergrund and Pomeranian Bay with Oderbank
- BMUV Marine Protection and BMEL Marine Protection
Published on November 28, 2024 in press release format
