Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre would like to stress that the primary objective of the Ocean Act should be to restore and maintain a good environmental status of the ocean; the short-term goal should be improvement, while avoiding further (especially irreversible) damage. When developing a new Ocean Act, the issue of goal conflicts must be addressed.

Researchers at the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre (BSC) are deeply concerned about the lack of progress in attaining the MSFD GES. On the contrary, the marine ecosystems, not the least in the Baltic Sea, are degrading. The most apparent reasons for this failed status is the continued high and unsustainable fishing pressure and climate change.

Reply from Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre: SUMMARY A deletion or change to Art. 4.6 in the Baltic multiannual plan (MAP) would in all probability lead to less legal clarity. Complaints of a lack of legal certainty or overlapping with other rules in the MAP are based on a misunderstanding. If there were uncertainty about how to interpret and implement the 5% rule it could be remedied by recourse to court.

This submission from the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre focusses on conditions in the Baltic Sea. References may be found on our website https://www.su.se/stockholm-university-baltic-sea-centre/ . EELS The mismanagement of the European eel offers a clear illustration of the state of play of the common fisheries policy.

An overriding objective of fisheries policy should be to avoid collapses of important stocks. All other objectives are dependent on that. This objective might be said to be implicit in EU fisheries policy. But it is unstated and there is little discussion of the risks involved in different policy alternatives. This has practical importance.