Posted on September, 23 2019

The PEW Charitable Trust, with a number of supporting NGOS including WWF Baltic Programme, has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Baltic Sea Multi-Annual Plan (BSMAP).

Overview:
The Baltic Sea Multi-Annual Plan (BSMAP) has, overall, not been successful in delivering on its
objectives nor on the aims of the European Union’s (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the
Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for the fish populations, fisheries and ecosystems it
covers. Not only has the MAP proved unsuccessful in restoring stock biomass, eliminating discards,
protecting vulnerable species, and minimizing the negative impacts of fishing on Baltic ecosystems,
but the content of the BSMAP made it very unlikely that it could ever achieve its stated aims. This is
primarily due to weaknesses in its provisions and a lack of ambition, both of which stemmed from an
intention to design the BSMAP as a generic blueprint for Multi-Annual Plans (MAPs) in other areas that would provide more “flexibility” for decision-makers.

The content of the MAP has been driven by political pressure to downgrade its ambition with a
desire to maintain status quo fishing practices and provide flexibility to fish at higher rates than the
CFP allows, something that is now reflected in other MAPs. These drivers have been evident
throughout the process, from the initial proposal made by the European Commission (EC), to the
inter-institutional process to agree the legislation. This ensured the level of ambition was low,
preventing the inclusion of measures to restore fish stocks and to achieve wider environmental
improvements. This also led to the inclusion of inappropriate mixed fisheries “flexibilities” for
relatively targeted Baltic fisheries, just to set a precedent in future MAPs for fisheries in other
regions. This was exactly the generic one-size-fits-all approach MAPs were intended to overcome,
through a process of regionalisation introduced to ensure management needs are adapted to the
specific requirements of a given region in a timely manner.

Read the full report