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Photo: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
EU and Norway reach an agreement on fishing opportunities for 2025
 EUROPEAN UNION
Monday, December 09, 2024, 00:10 (GMT + 9)
On 5 December, the EU and Norway concluded negotiations on the management of shared stocks in the Skagerrak and Kattegat, quota exchanges, and reciprocal access to waters.
 These agreements secure key fishing opportunities for 2025, as well as predictability and access for EU fleets operating in Norwegian waters, including the North Sea and Skagerrak.
The EU and Norway concluded a balanced exchange of fishing opportunities of high economic value. Among other stocks, the EU will receive 10,316 tonnes of Arctic cod for 2025 and will transfer 81,750 tonnes of blue whiting and 1,700 tonnes of Northern shrimp to Norway. Secured quotas will provide the EU fleet with increased fishing opportunities in Norwegian waters in 2025.
EU and Norway reconfirmed stable reciprocal access to waters of the North Sea, allowing both EU and Norwegian fishers to maintain key fishing activities. Regrettably, an agreement on access for blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring could not be reached. Consultations on these two pelagic stocks will continue, with the aim of a prompt resolution.
Total allowable catches (TACs) were agreed for cod, haddock, herring, plaice and whiting in the Skagerrak. Both EU and Norway agreed to continue restrictions on herring catches in the Skagerrak to safeguard the recovery of the Western Baltic herring stock, which mixes with the North Sea herring stock. The EU urged Norway to introduce additional measures in Norwegian waters of the North Sea, where a vast majority of catches of Western Baltic herring now occur. Such measures will help further protect the stock’s recovery, in addition to the measures already taken by the EU in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat.
The parties also signed the neighbouring arrangement covering the Swedish fishery in Norwegian waters of the North Sea.
Next steps
The catch limits and quotas agreed between the EU and Norway will be submitted for incorporation into the Fishing Opportunities Regulation for 2025, during the upcoming Council of EU fisheries ministers on 9 and 10 December.
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