2022/0312/S
EC/EFTA
SE Sweden
  • C10A - Fishing
2022-07-28
2022-05-05

Fishing: Cages

The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management regulations amending the Swedish National Board of Fisheries regulations (FIFS 2004:36) on fishing in the Skagerrak, Kattegat and Baltic Sea

In order to combat ghost fishing, all cages (pots) shall be equipped with at least one escape hole placed at the bottom of each catch chamber. The escape hole shall be designed in a way that allows a cylinder or pipe of at least 15 cm in diameter to be passed through the hole. The escape hole shall be kept closed with the help of, at a maximum, a 3 mm diameter thick, single, untreated cotton thread without a core.

The requirement does not apply when fishing for molluscs with cages or those fishing professionally for edible crabs and lobsters.
Those who fish with cages can/shall adjust the cages themselves to ensure that they have sufficiently large escape holes and that the thread that is fitted to close the hole is of the required nature so that it decomposes after not too long a time if the gear is lost.
Annex V, Part C, point 7.1. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 sets out requirements for the design of the lobster pot.
The Swedish provision means a tightening in the form of requirements for the cage to have an escape hole in order to prevent ghost fishing, if the gear is lost.