Quotas

The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the Baltic Sea and the North Sea is determined annually by the EU Council for Agriculture and Fisheries, in October for the Baltic Sea and in December for the North Sea. The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management works to ensure compliance with Sweden's established fishing quotas.

Quota Monitoring

We are responsible for checking the information regarding Swedish catches, following up on quotas, and looking after nationally-managed stocks. When the quota for a particular stock has been reached, we make the decision to halt fishing activities for that stock.

Our monitoring of quotas includes daily follow-ups of reported catches offset against quotas and other fishing opportunities that have been allocated to Sweden.

We regulate the utilization of allocated quotas through regulations and decisions about starting and stopping fishing activities, either for the entire fishing fleet in general or through special fishing permits for individual vessels. The available catch volume—our allocated fishing quota—can also be regulated during the fishing year through quota exchanges between Member States so that the total permitted catch volume within the EU is not exceeded.

Quota Exchanges

When the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management determines that certain fishing activities must be halted because the quota is likely to be exceeded before the year is out, a request for exchanging quotas with another Member State can be made. In some cases, exchanges are initiated by associations within the fishing industry when they see a need to increase the fishing capacity of a certain stock.

At the end of the fishing season or shortly thereafter when the year’s quota statistics are finalized, a plan is developed for how any overfishing can be compensated through quota exchanges.