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Oceans and fisheries
News announcement10 December 2021Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Sustainable fisheries: EU-Norway and EU-Norway-UK conclude key consultations for 2022

Herring - fresh catch © Iraidka / Adobe Stock
Herring - fresh catch © Iraidka / Adobe Stock

The trilateral arrangement between the EU, Norway and the United Kingdom on jointly managed fisheries stocks in the North Sea for 2022 establishes the total allowable catches (TAC) and quota sharing covering over 683,000 tonnes of fish.

After one month of negotiations, the three parties signed today an agreement, allowing for the joint management of the following stocks: cod, haddock, saithe, whiting, plaice and herring. These are the second consultations in 2021, in this case to set the TACs and quotas for 2022.

The agreement on TACs includes a rollover for cod, following the MSY advice for saithe and plaice, and the decision by the three Parties not to use the full advice for haddock and whiting in order to protect cod in mixed fisheries. As a result, the increase for haddock will be +5%, while for whiting it will be +25%, despite a much higher scientific advice for both stocks. The same applies to herring where, despite an advice for +46%, the Parties decided a +20% TAC increase.

The parties agreed to continue implementing a range of additional measures to protect North Sea cod, such as area closures and to prioritise control, including enhanced cooperation on control in a trilateral setting.

In parallel, the EU and Norway have concluded bilateral consultations for shared stocks in the North Sea, Skagerrak and quota exchanges.

Also today, the EU and Norway signed three bilateral agreements relating to the exchanges of quotas, reciprocal access to waters for fishers of the two Parties and quota setting in the Skagerrak and the Kattegat.

Both Parties secured an ambitious balance of exchanges of fishing opportunities of major economic interest. Among other stocks, the EU will receive 10,259 tonnes of Arctic cod for 2022, while it will transfer to Norway 31,500 tonnes of blue whiting and 69,623 tonnes of capelin. The Parties renewed the arrangement on reciprocal access for the jointly managed stocks in the North Sea with a slight decrease in the level of access for both Parties. For pelagic stocks, the EU will have access to catch its quota of Norwegian Spring spawning herring in Norwegian waters, while in the case of blue whiting there will be reciprocal access to waters of the other Party to catch up to 114,554 tonnes.

Another pilar of the agreement is the management of the different herring TACs in the Skagerrak and the North Sea. In order to protect the Western Baltic herring stock, which mixes with the North Sea herring in the Skagerrak, both the EU and Norway took major decisions to drastically cut the actual herring catches in the Skagerrak through various management measures, while at the same time maintaining the relative stability of quotas and shares between the Parties.

Finally, the parties also signed the neighbouring arrangement covering the Swedish fishery in Norwegian waters of the North Sea.

For further details, read the agreed records.

10 DECEMBER 2021
Agreed record of fisheries consultations between the European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom for 2022
English
(1.31 MB - PDF)
Download
10 DECEMBER 2021
Agreed record of conclusions of fisheries consultations between Norway and the European Union on the regulation of fisheries in Skagerrak and Kattegat for 2022
English
(833.5 KB - PDF)
Download
10 DECEMBER 2021
Agreed record of fisheries consultations between the European Union and Norway for 2022
English
(973.78 KB - PDF)
Download
10 DECEMBER 2021
Protocol of fisheries consultations between Norway and the European Union, on behalf of Sweden, for 2022
English
(87.29 KB - PDF)
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Details

Publication date
10 December 2021
Author
Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries