It is not only scientists and small-scale coastal fishermen who are concerned about the herring crisis in the Baltic Sea. Last autumn, the European Commission proposed to stop all directed herring fishing in the central Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia in 2024.

The proposal was rejected by the Council of Ministers, which set the toal allowable catches (TACS) to 40,300 tonnes and 55,000 tonnes respectively for the two herring stocks. The decision was strongly criticised by scientists, environmental organisations, coastal fishermen and politicians.

Ministers also agreed on new spawning closures, which include stopping herring fishing in the Baltic Sea proper in various sea areas during April and May. According to the Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs ,Peter Kullgren (KD), the closures were introduced as "a consequence of Sweden's negotiating efforts", with the aim of "better protecting herring spawning."

The closures will be ineffective

The spawning closures fall in different periods between 1 April and 31 May. This makes them ineffective, according to Stockholm University’s Baltic Sea Centre's analysis of commercial fishing logbook data from the last decade (2011-2022).

Between 2011 and 2022, only ten per cent of the Swedish herring catches in the Baltic Proper were fished during April-May.

More than half (58%) of the catches were taken in the first quarter, January-March, while a quarter (23%) were fished in the last quarter, October-December. 

Henrik Svedäng

“The introduction of these closed seasons is a success in eating the cake and leaving it for industrial fishing,” says Henrik Svedäng, marine ecologist and researcher at Baltic Sea Centre, an continues:

"The large-scale industrial fishing in the Baltic Sea is not carried out on spawning herring but on wintering shoals that accumulate along the coast - that is, before the herring enter shallower waters to spawn."

Most herring are fished before spawning

Herring are a migratory species that spend most of their lives in the open sea. During the winter, the spring-spawning herring come closer to the coast and gather in large shoals to overwinter at a depth of 50-60 metres. This is when the larger trawlers fish for them. 

Between April and June the herring move into the archipelagos and shallows (usually between 10 and 20 metres) to spawn. This is when small-scale coastal fisheries target them.

The Baltic Sea Centre has defined three coastal areas in the Baltic Sea proper where there is intensive fishing for wintering herring: The eastern coast of Gotland, Hanö Bay, and off the Stockholm archipelago (see map below). 

During 2011-2022, almost half (45%) of the total Swedish herring catches were taken in these areas – and most of the herring was fished in the first and (in some areas) last quarter of the year. 

Between 2011 and 2022, 58% of the annual Swedish herring catch was fished during January-March, a quarter (23%) during October-December and only 10% during April-May. Almost half (45%) of the annual catches were taken in three coastal areas where herring overwinter before spawning: (Hanö Bay, eastern Gotland coast and off the Stockholm archipelago). Graphic: Azote

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Affects small-scale coastal fisheries the most

With this year's closed seasons, large-scale fishing for wintering shoals of herring along the east coast will be able to continue as before. This is likely to result in even smaller quantities of herring being able to reach the coast to spawn later in the spring and summer, according to Henrik Svedäng. 

“In Hanöbukten, the closed season is reasonably well placed – albeit too short – as there is quite a lot of fishing there even in April. But otherwise, the fishing ban completely misses the large-scale coastal herring fishery during the winter, and basically only affects the small-scale coastal fishery, which actually fishes for spawning herring. That is, the same fisheries that the government and the EU say they want to protect," he says.  

Closed seasons not the most effective measure

Ahead of the Council of Ministers' quota negotiations last year, it was clear that the issue of closed seasons would come up. The Swedish government therefore requested new knowledge from the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM). Among other things, they wanted answers to where, when and for how long periods of spawning closures need to be introduced to "ensure a recovery of the spawning biomass".

SwAM forwarded the questions to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, department for Aquatic Sciences and Assessment (SLU Aqua), which concluded that ‘if the aim is to protect as much of the population as possible during a limited time of the year’, the closed seasons ‘should be adapted to the time when the fish are in these areas [wintering areas, editor's note] and not in shallow spawning areas’. 

The greatest effect would be achieved if ‘the area is closed to fishing all year round’ and the local stocks do not spread outside the area. (Source: Order TAC Baltic Sea, corrective measures for herring SLU.aqua.2023.5.4-337)

However, time-limited spawning closures are not the best measure for the crisis-ridden herring stocks, SLU Aqua writes. A more effective measure would be to ‘reduce the general fishing mortality, i.e. to reduce catch quotas.’

Stop trawl fishing within 12 nautical miles

The large-scale pelagic trawl fishery in the central Baltic Sea is a mixed fishery that catches both herring and sprat. According to SLU Aqua's sampling, catches in the open sea are dominated by sprat, while catches within the territorial limit (12 nautical miles from the coast) have a larger proportion of herring. 

In its submission, SLU Aqua propose that the entire coastal area within 12 nautical miles be closed to pelagic trawling throughout 2024 ‘to avoid fishing in areas where herring overwinter and accumulate before spawning’. 

A more lenient but ‘probably less effective proposal’, writes SLU Aqua, would be to restrict trawling within 12 nautical miles during the first and last quarters of the year (and parts of the second quarter) ‘when the largest harvest of pelagic fish occurs’.

The Swedish government was informed

The Baltic Sea Centre's analyses of herring fishing in the Baltic Sea over the past decade are in good agreement with the information in the documentation submitted by SLU Aquas to to SwAM. Both show that this year's spawning closures in April-May are unlikely to favour either herring nor small-scale coastal fisheries. 

This scientific information was available to the Swedish government prior to the latest quota negotiations in the Council of Ministers. According to Fredrik Palm, an investigator at the fisheries regulation unit at SwAM, the agency advised the government in line with SLU Aqua's data. 

"The agency recommended sharply reduced quotas for herring in the central Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, with a primary focus on preserving and maintaining small-scale fishing and fishing for consumption," says Fredrik Palm and continues:

"On the issue of introducing a closed season, our data showed the need to spread the closures over several months to give the desired effect and protect both migrating herring in connection with the spawning period and spawning herring in connection with the spawning areas," says Fredrik Palm.

The sea is not working as it used to

Henrik Svedäng regrets that the Swedish government apparently did not listen to its expert authorities before negotiating quotas in the Council of Ministers. Sweden opposed the Commission's proposal to stop targeted herring fishing and instead supported the introduction of limited spawning closures.

"To claim or imply that time-limited spawning closures are an adequate method to rebuild stocks is either based on cynicism or ignorance. It may sound good, but it lacks the rigour that successful fisheries management must be based on," says Henrik Svedäng. 

According to him, stopping fishing is the only option if the threatened herring stocks are to have a chance to recover.  

"The herring stocks around Sweden's coasts are being torn apart by too high fishing pressure for too long. In some areas, such as the Gulf of Bothnia, there have also been changes to the food web over the last few decades, which is also reducing the size of the stocks. All in all, this means that the sea is not functioning as it used to. We should focus on rebuilding stocks to previous levels," says Henrik Svedäng.

Text: Henrik Hamrén