EU ministers agreed on 26 October to raise several Baltic Sea fishing limits for 2027 while retaining by-catch-only restrictions for depleted cod stocks. The Council's political agreement gives central Baltic herring and sprat some of the largest increases, but it still requires formal adoption before the agreed package becomes a final decision.

The distinction matters for fishing operators planning next year's activity. The Council said adoption would follow at an upcoming meeting after the text is finalised in every EU language. Its announcement describes the limits ministers have agreed, rather than confirming that the 2027 decision has already completed that process.

Total allowable catches, or TACs, set the maximum quantities that may be caught. According to the Council's announcement, ministers considered advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea alongside environmental and socioeconomic factors. The resulting package does not increase access uniformly across the Baltic's different fish stocks.

Larger limits for herring and sprat

Central Baltic herring would have a limit of 165,228 tonnes under the agreement, up 71% from 2026. The Council said this remained below the level recommended by scientists. A three-month spawning-season closure would stay in place, so the higher annual quantity does not remove that seasonal protection for the stock.

For sprat, the agreed ceiling is 291,590 tonnes, an increase of 44%. The Council attributed that change to growth in the stock and expectations that the trend would continue. It described the increase as consistent with scientific advice, making sprat another stock receiving substantially greater fishing opportunities in the proposed annual package.

The agreement raises Gulf of Riga herring to 38,183 tonnes, up 11%, with the Council describing the stock as healthy. Bothnian herring would rise 12% to 62,500 tonnes. For the latter, fishing restrictions during reproduction periods in shallow coastal waters would continue for three months despite the increase in the annual limit.

Western Baltic herring is treated differently. Its 788-tonne allowance remains at the 2026 level and is for unavoidable by-catches, meaning fish unintentionally caught while pursuing other stocks. The existing exemption for small-scale fisheries would remain. That combination should not be read as an unrestricted reopening of targeted fishing across the western herring stock.

Cod protections and salmon exceptions remain

Eastern and western Baltic cod remain in poor condition, according to the Council. Ministers agreed to retain by-catch-only limits of 430 tonnes for eastern cod and 266 tonnes for western cod. Neither figure represents a new general allowance to target cod, and both are unchanged from the limits for 2026.

The prohibition on recreational cod fishing throughout the area would also continue. Together, the by-catch restrictions and recreational ban distinguish the cod measures from the increases agreed for several other species. The Council presents their continuation as a way to give the two cod stocks scope to recover rather than expand fishing for them.

Salmon limits also remain unchanged, but the units are different: the official agreement table counts salmon in specimens, not tonnes. It lists 25,537 specimens for main-basin by-catches and 10,232 specimens for the Gulf of Finland. Those quantities should therefore not be compared directly with the tonnage allowances for herring or cod.

Ministers retained the existing exception for the summer coastal salmon fishery in subdivisions 29 N, 30 and 31. Recreational salmon fishing would continue to be allowed for reared salmon only. These qualifications mean that an unchanged overall limit does not, by itself, describe every condition governing where and how salmon fishing may take place.

Formal decision still to follow

Plaice would receive a smaller increase of 3%, taking its agreed limit to 11,237 tonnes. Beyond the Baltic package, ministers also addressed Norway pout in the North Sea, a stock shared by the EU and UK. Following consultations with the UK, they agreed an EU allowance of 300 tonnes for by-catches only.

The Council alone has decision-making competence over these catch limits. It said the agreement fits the common fisheries policy and the multiannual plan for Baltic stocks, with work by the regional BALTFISH forum contributing to the negotiations. The published table separates the Commission's proposal from the Council agreement; the figures reported here are the latter.

For readers following the final rules, the next step is the Council's formal adoption, not another announcement that negotiations have concluded. The retained seasonal closures and stock-specific exceptions remain part of the agreed approach. Higher limits for some species should not be mistaken for an across-the-board removal of Baltic fishing restrictions.

Related coverage

Read Dalimss News coverage of the EU Council's partial position on future farm policy and UK guidance on EU fishing controls.

Source material: Council of the European Union, 26 October 2026. © European Union, 2026. This article is an independently rewritten summary of the announcement and agreement table.