Fisheries management measures are recommended to improve the status of Baltic Sea trout stocks

The status of sea trout stocks particularly in northern Baltic Sea is very worrying. In some Baltic Sea countries, however, there are examples of successful management measures. The international Workshop on Baltic Sea Trout recommended a set of fisheries management measures, activities in streams and on releases to be implemented over the Baltic sea in order to the improve the status of sea trout stocks.

The Workshop recommended the prohibition of fishing for sea trout in river mouths. In addition, in many rivers improved migration possibilities at barriers are needed, to allow the sea trout to access the spawning habitats.

In Finland, the by-catch of young sea trout in gillnet fishing for whitefish and pike-perch is the major threat to sea trout populations. Fisheries management objective should be to secure the sea trout to reach the maturity size during the feeding migration and also safeguard the access to rivers for spawning.

Sea trout stocks are the strongest in Denmark and southern Sweden, where they have been systematically supported through the reconditioning of rivers and through carefully implemented fisheries management measures. In Sweden, in the Bothnian Bay coastal area the gillnet fishing has been forbidden at depths of less than 3 meters in the spring and autumn for several years. In many countries, estuary and coastal fishing bans have increased the abundance of spawning sea trout in rivers.

The workshop took place in Helsinki 11-13 October 2011 and was organized by the Danish National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua) and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. The workshop was attended by fisheries managers and fisheries biologists from all nine Baltic Sea riparian countries and from Norway, European Commission and HELCOM.

The workshop was sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The report of the Baltic Sea Trout Workshop and presentations from the workshop can be found here: http://www.staff.dtu.dk/stped/WorkshoponBalticSeaTroutHelsinki1113October2011

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