Total ban on eel fishing next year

After two days of negotiations, EU fisheries ministers have decided quotas for 200 different species. It has also decided to ban all eel fishing in EU waters under three months, and have taken the decision to introduce the so-called landningsskyldighet next year. Landningsskyldighet means that any catch – also catch – no longer get thrown back, but must be brought in the country and reported.

– There have been intensive negotiations in two days. But we have managed to reach a compromise, " says Sven-Erik Bucht to the TT at 03.30 the night on Wednesday.

is very satisfied with the decisions taken and say that it is what is needed for the EU's common fisheries policy on sustainable fisheries to be achieved.

" Sweden has achieved great success I would say, not least with regard to the protection of the eel stock. Sweden has, since december of last year, when fishing for eel in the Baltic sea and the Atlantic ocean was settled, engaged in an intensive effort to extend the protection of the eels next year. Now we have gotten through the restrictions so it covers the whole of the Mediterranean, which means that the glass eel is protected – that is to say, the eel is under 12 inches, " says Bucht.

see the new ålfiskeförbudet as a step in the right direction, even if you had seen that the prohibition applies throughout the year.

”It is good that although the glass eel and recreational fishing is now included in the fiskestoppet which the WWF has pushed for during the year prior to the negotiations. Already in 2020, the EU should have achieved the sustainability of fish stocks which does not give us much time to play with. For the eel as critically endangered species, it is obvious that we will not reach there,” says Madeleine van der Veer, expert at WWF, in a written comment to the TT.