EU states agree to cut Baltic cod quotas

Key EU states agreed Monday to cut cod fishing quotas in Baltic waters in a bid to bring stocks back up to sustainable levels, the European Commssion said.

The Commission said fishery ministers from Poland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia would cut cod quotas by 9.0 percent to 61,565 tonnes in the east of the Baltic Sea, in line with an EU recommendation.

Quotas in the western part would be reduced by 6.0 percent to just over 20,000 tonnes, compared with a Commission proposal for just 2.0 percent.

The reduced quotas should allow cod stocks to recover faster than expected to levels where they can support sustainable catches, it said.