National regulatory measures

National regulatory measures are, unlike the international regulatory measures, updated more often, at times on a yearly basis, and therefore they are presented here and not in the Stock An-nex. Effects of national regulatory measures on stock development are generally not evaluated by WGBAST.

In Denmark, no new national regulatory measures were implemented in 2020. According to reg-ulations for the period 2014–2020 (BEK nr 212 af 01/03/2017 - Bekendtgørelse om regulering af fiskeriet i 2014–2020) the following rules must be followed:

• All commercial vessels fishing salmon must be registered as salmon fishing boats and have a specific permission for the fishery.

• Discard is not allowed, but seal damaged salmon can be discarded without deduction from the quota.

• Vessels with a catch of ten or more salmon must notify the Fisheries Inspection before entering the harbour.

For recreational trolling fisheries no national legislation is in practice. However, voluntary re-strictions are recommended by angler association(s).

Further restrictions: Throughout the year, all streams with outlets wider than 2 m are protected by closed areas within 500 m from the mouth. Otherwise, the closure period is four months at the time of spawning run. Estuaries are usually protected by an extended zone. Gillnetting is not permitted within 100 m of the low waterline. A closed period for salmon (and sea trout) has been established from 16th of Novemberto 15th of January in freshwater. In the sea, this only applies for sexually mature fish in spawning dress (coloured). A maximum of three gillnets and three fykenets/sets of hooks are allowed per fisherman.

Around Bornholm, a maximum of six sets of gear (nets or hooks) are permitted per fisherman.

Fishing with hooks is permitted only between 1st of October–1st of May. For each set of hooks, a maximum of 100 hooks is allowed. Maximum length of the six nets allowed is 270 m in total.

Between 16th September and the last day in February nets may be combined as follows, either:

(A) up to six bottom gillnets, or (B) up to five bottom gillnets and one floating net (maximum 45 m length, maximum height 3 m, minimum mesh size (total) 157 mm (called ‘Salmon nets’) OR five bottom gillnets and one floating net 45 m length and height 12 m with minimum mesh size (total) 57 mm (called ‘Bornholmer nets’), or (C) up to four bottom gillnets and one floating gillnet maximum 45 length and 3 m height, and one ‘salmon net’. Between 1st of March and 15th of September, maximum three of the six gillnets allowed can be floating (maximum length 135 m).

Further restrictions around Bornholm: On water with less than 30 m depth: a maximum of three gillnets is allowed (all year). Use of floating gillnets is prohibited from 16 September to the last

day of February. Between 1st of March and 30th of April, maximum mesh size (total) is 60 mm in floating gillnets. All year, the use of both ‘Bornholmer nets’ and ‘Salmon nets’ is prohibited. On water with more than 30 m depth: use of ‘Bornholmer nets’ is prohibited between 1st of December and 31st of May. All year only one ‘Salmon net’ is permitted. Harvest of sea trout is limited to maximum three fish per man per day (and maximum three per boat per day). No mandatory bag limit exists for salmon, though local trolling fishers have agreed to harvest maximum two salmon per fisher per day, minimum length 75 cm and preferably retain only released (fin-clipped) salmon.

In Estonia salmon offshore fishery is regulated by EC regulations, coastal and river fishery also by national rules. No new fishing restrictions was established in 2020. There last new national regulatory measures were implemented in 2019 concerning the recreational sector.

• In river Pühajõgi, Loobu, Selja, Pirita, Vääna and Purtse recreational fishery for salmon and sea trout is closed from 20th of October–30th of November.

• Recreational salmon fishing was banned in Valgejõgi.

In general, since 2011, the following restrictions are in practice:

• no commercial fishery in salmon (and sea trout) spawning rivers is permitted, with the exception of lamprey fishing;

• only licensed angling is permitted.

Some specific management regulations are also in place on a river basis regarding closure peri-ods for angling. A closed period for salmon (and sea trout) angling is established in rivers Narva, Purtse, Kunda, Selja Loobu, Valgejõgi, Jägala, Pirita, Keila, Vasalemma, and Pärnu from 1 Sep-tember–30 November, and in other rivers from 1 September–31 October. Exceptions for these closures are allowed by decree of the Minister of Environment in rivers with a reared (Narva) or mixed salmon stock (Purtse, Selja, Valgejõgi, Jägala, Pirita and Vääna). Below of dams and wa-terfalls, all kind of fishing is prohibited at a distance of 100 m. In the River Pärnu, below Sindi dam, this distance is 500 m.

Furthermore, there is an all-year-round closed area of 1000 m radius at the river mouths of the present or potential salmon spawning rivers Purtse, Kunda, Selja, Loobu, Valgejõgi, Jägala, Pi-rita, Keila, and Vasalemma, and at the river mouths of the sea trout spawning rivers Punapea, Õngu, and Pidula. Since 2011, the closed area for fishing around the river mouth was extended from 1000–1500 m for the time period 1 September–31 October for rivers Kunda, Selja, Loobu, Valgejõe, Pirita, Keila, Vääna, Vasalemma and Purtse. In rivers Selja, Valgejõgi, Pirita, Vääna and Purtse, recreational fishery for salmon (and sea trout) is banned from 15 October to 15 November.

In the case of the most important Estonian sea trout spawning rivers (Pada, Toolse, Vainupea, Mustoja, Altja, Võsu, Pudisoo, Loo, Vääna, Vihterpadu, Nõva, Riguldi, Kolga, Rannametsa, Va-najõgi, Jämaja) a closed area of 500 m is established from 15th of August to 1st of December. In most of the salmon (and sea trout) rivers, angling with natural bait is prohibited.

In Finland, in the Main Basin salmon fishing has been forbidden for the Finnish vessels from year 2013. Coastal salmon fishing regulation for the Gulf of Bothnia was renewed in 2017. Also, individual quota system was implemented in salmon fishery (and as well as Baltic herring and sprat fishery) in 2017. In Åland Islands prevails a separate regulation.

In the Gulf of Bothnia for commercial fisherman salmon fishing is allowed to start with one trap-net in the following dates in four zones: Bothnian Sea (59°00’N–62°30’N) May 1st, Quark (62°30’N–64°N) May 6th, Southern Bothnian Bay (64°00’N–65°30’N) May 11th and Northern Bot-nian Bay (65°30’N–->) May 16th. They can set one more trapnet for fishing in the following dates:

Bothnian Sea (59°00’N–62°30’N) June 10th, Quark (62°30’N–64°N) June 15th, Southern Bothnian Bay (64°00’N–65°30’N) June 20th and Northern Bothnian Bay (65°30’N–>) June 25th. After one

week from these two, more trapnets are allowed to set for fishing (maximum a total of four trap-nets per fisherman).

Also, in terminal fishing areas, the number of trapnets and fishing period was restricted. Earlier in terminal fishing areas the number of trapnets was unlimited and only in Kemi terminal area there was a closure in the early summer. Now the regulation in terminal areas is more similar to the rest of the region. Fishing with one trapnet is allowed to start at the same time as outside the areas, but the number of trapnets can be raised up to three on June 17th and up to eight on June 25th (for fishers with turnover less than equal to 10 000 € up to two and four for respectively).

In the area outside of River Simojoki, salmon fishing may start on July 16th and outside the mouth of river Tornionjoki on June 17th.

All salmon have to be marked with a coded landing mark. In the first period of the season (when one trapnet is allowed) fisher is allowed to utilize of 25% his/her individual quota at maximum.

Large trapnets (higher than 1.5 m) are allowed only for commercial fishers.

Salmon fishing with longlines and gillnets is forbidden in the Archipelago Sea and Gulf of Both-nia from April 1st to June 16th–July 1st depending on the area.

In Germany, no new national regulatory measures were implemented in 2020. For several years, there is no quota allocated in the commercial sector, i.e. there is no directed commercial salmon fishery anymore. There are two federal states bordering the Baltic coast: Schleswig-Holstein, (SH) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MV). Commercial (coastal) fishing and recreational fishing is under the jurisdiction of the German federal states. Consequently, marine coastal fish-ing is managed with different legislation. The fishfish-ing season is closed both for commercial and recreational fisheries during autumn, in SH 1st of October–31st of December (only coloured fish) and in MV 15th of September–14th of December. Closed areas in both federal states include pro-tected spawning grounds in coastal waters, 300–400 m around spawning streams/rivers. For commercial fisheries there is also a 200 m gillnet ban in front of the coastline. In MV, trolling fisheries is permitted at a distance >1 km from the coastline between September 15th and March 15th and there is a rod limit of three rods per angler in place. In MV, there is also a bag limit in place allowing landing of three salmonids (sea trout or salmon) per day and angler. Recreational fishery for salmon (and sea trout) is allowed on a licence basis. The minimum landing size is 60 cm in both states.

In Latvia in 2020, licensed angling for descending hatchery origin (finclipped) sea trout and salmon kelts was opened also in Gauja river. Similar to the regulations established in Salaca and Venta river, daily bag limit is one sea trout or salmon.

In summary, current national legislation in commercial offshore and in coastal waters includes the following restrictions:

• In the Gulf of Riga, salmon driftnet and longline fishing is not permitted;

• In coastal waters, salmon fishing is prohibited from 1st of October–15th November;

• Salmon fishing in coastal waters has been restricted indirectly, by limiting the number of gears in the fishing season.

In the recreational trolling fishery, one person is allowed to use a maximum number of three fishing rods in the waters of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga, if each gear has no more than three hooks of any type (including treble hooks), and where more than one treble-hook hook is allowed only if it is free (moving) attached to one artificial bait. It is prohibited to use natural bait for salmon and trout. Daily bag limit is one salmon and one sea trout per person. Minimum size limit is 60 cm for salmon and 50 cm for sea trout.

In the rivers with natural reproduction of salmon, all angling and fishing for salmon and sea trout is prohibited with exception of licensed angling for sea trout and salmon during the spring season in the rivers Salaca and Venta. Daily bag limit is one sea trout or one salmon. Since 2013, all gillnetting is prohibited all year round in a 3 km zone around the River Salaca outlet. In 2004, the restriction zones were enlarged from 1 to 2 km for the rivers Gauja and Venta. In rivers Dau-gava and Bullupe (connects rivers Lielupe and DauDau-gava) angling and commercial fishing of salmon is allowed since 2007. However, it is prohibited to use gillnets in these rivers.

In Lithuania salmon offshore fishery is regulated by EC regulations, coastal and river fishery also by national rules. Most regulatory measures is as it was in previous years. It is some changes for fishing zones in Nemunas river and new requirement for commercial fishery in Curonian lagoon; all (dead or alive) salmon and sea trout caught with fykenets must be released.

The commercial fishery is regulated during time of salmon (and sea trout) migration in the Klaipėda Strait and the Curonian lagoon. Fishing is prohibited all year-round in a predefined part of the Klaipėda strait. From the 1st of September–31st of October, during the salmon (and sea trout) migration, fishing with nets is prohibited on the eastern stretch of the Curonian lagoon between Klaipėda and Skirvytė, at a 2 km distance from the eastern shore.

Recreational salmon (and sea trout) fisheries along the coast are regulated by one set of rules, whereas in inland waters another set of rules regulates the fisheries. For recreational fishing of salmon (and sea trout) in the Baltic Sea, one either needs to buy a fishing ticket or be entitled to special fishing rights to fish. In inland waters, you need a recreational fishing card for fishing.

Both in the sea and in inland waters, there is a bag limit of one salmon or sea trout per angler and fishing day. In inland waters, the minimum size has been extended to 65 cm.

In the period September 15th to 31st of October, recreational fishing is prohibited within a 0.5 km radius from the Šventoji and Rėkstyne river mouths, and from the southern and northern break-waters of Klaipėda Strait. During the same period, commercial fishing is prohibited within a 0.5 km radius from Šventoji River mouth, and 3 km from the Curonian lagoon and Baltic Sea confluence. From 1st of October to 31st of December, all types of fishing are prohibited in 161 streams, because of brown trout and sea trout spawning.

In larger rivers, such as Neris and Šventoji (with twelve rivers/tributaries in total), special pro-tected zones have been selected where schooling of salmon and sea trout occurs. In these selected zones, licensed fishing is only permitted from 16th of September until 15th of October. Last year, the angling of salmon and sea trout in this selected river zones was limited by a ‘catch and re-lease’ rule (from 1st until 15th October). From 16th of October to 31st of December any kind of fishing is prohibited in these areas. From 1st of January, licensed salmon (and sea trout) kelt fishing is permitted in the Minija, Veiviržas, Skirvytė, Jūra, Atmata, Nemunas, Neris, Dubysa, Siesartis and Šventoji river. Fishing with a licence is allowed from 1st of January to 1st of October in designated stretches of the listed rivers. In the inland waters, regulation of fishing is more complex. In case of retaining a salmon (or sea trout), a specific part of the recreational fishing card must be removed not later than within five minutes. Such a marked recreational fishing card means that you are not allowed to continue fishing there and then.

In Poland one national regulatory measure was implemented in 2020: the protective period for salmon and sea trout for recreational fisheries have been shortened compared to the previous one (was: ‘between 15th September and 30th November’) to the period 'between 15th September and 15th November beyond four nautical miles from the shore'. That regulation has been imple-mented to unify the legal acts related to the protective period for salmon and sea trout, however, the shortened protective period has been chosen.

In addition to EC measures, seasonal closures and fixed protected areas are in force within terri-torial waters managed by Regional Fisheries Inspectorates. Fishing for salmon (and sea trout) in

the sea is not allowed between 15th of September and 15th of November within a predefined belt along the coastal zone (<4 Nm). A new law for recreational salmon fishing in Polish EEZ was introduced in 2015 including:

• catch quotas (per day/per angler);

• minimum size limits (TL.);

• periods and areas for protected fish species;

• minimum distance between anglers.

Rod fishing (coastal fishing, boat/belly boat fishing, and organized cruises on board fishing ves-sels) and spear fishing is allowed. Recreational fishing with nets is not allowed. A new system of obtaining fishing licences has been established. Currently, proof of a bank transfer with spec-ified personal information is needed for legal fishing. The permit can be issued for a period of one week, one month or one year.

Since 2005, commercial fisheries for salmon (and sea trout) in rivers is based on new imple-mented rules. Fisheries opportunities were sold in 2005 by the state on a tender basis, where the bidder had to submit a fishing ten-year operational plan including restocking. Commercial river fisheries directed for sea trout and salmon already exist almost only in the Vistula River. How-ever, salmon are rare. In Pomeranian rivers, some salmon are collected annually for brood stock during spawning run.

In the rivers, angling for salmon and sea trout is forbidden between 1st of October and 31st of December. A fishing licence and permit are needed for fishing in the rivers. Only rod fishing is allowed for fishing for salmon and sea trout in the rivers. In addition, in Rivers Ina, Rega, Parsęta and Słupia, anglers must release all salmon that have been caught.

In Russia, no changes in the national regulations have been implemented since 2001. The inter-national fishery rules are extended to the coastline. In all rivers, and within one nautical mile of their mouths, fishing and angling for salmon is prohibited during all year, except fishing for brood stock for hatcheries.

In Sweden, for the commercial fisheries in 2020, as in recent years, the Swedish salmon quota was allocated to the coastal fishery as the Swedish offshore fishery targeting salmon and sea trout was phased out in 2012–2013. Management measures for salmon include an early summer ban and a minimum landing size of 60 cm. The aim of the early summer ban in the coastal fishery is to ensure that part of the migrating population of adult salmon ascend rivers before the fishing season starts. Starting dates of the Swedish commercial coastal fishing season in 2020 were the same as in 2019. North of latitude 62º55’N the fishing season started 17 June except in the pro-tection area outside River Umeälven where the starting date was set to 1 July. Exemptions from the seasonal regulation of the salmon fishery was allowed by the local county board to profes-sional fishermen in the area north of latitude 62º55’N up to the border between the counties Väs-terbotten and Norrbotten (except the protection area outside Umeälven), so that a limited fishery could start 12 June. South of latitude 62º55’N, commercial coastal fishing in 2020 was allowed from 1 April.

Salmon fishing opportunities for Swedish commercial fishermen in 2020 amounted to 26 991 salmon and consisted of the 2020 quota of 24 252 salmon plus an unutilized part (2739 salmon) of the 2019 quota. Of the 26 991 salmon, 591 were reserved for bycatches in fisheries targeting other species and as a buffer if catches would exceed the quota. 26 400 salmon were allocated to the commercial coastal fishery and were divided between ICES subdivisions (SD) in a similar way as in the last few years. In SD 31 the regional quota was set to 19 200 salmon. Among those, 2000 salmon were allocated specifically to the protection area outside River Umeälven, where fishing started 1 July. The aim of the changed regulations outside Umeälven was to protect the

(early migrating) weak wild salmon population in the tributary Vindelälven during the spawn-ing migration. In SD 30, the regional quota was set to 7000 salmon. In SD 22–29 the regional quota was set to 200 salmon because of the higher expected proportion of salmon from weaker popu-lations in these catches (as compared to SD 30 and 31). According to the latest information, com-mercial catches in 2020 were below regional quotas in all three areas (landed share of quota was 68%, 71% and 95% in SD 22–29, SD 30 and SD 31, respectively). The total Swedish coastal catch in 2020 in SD 22–31 (23 292 salmon) corresponded to 88% of the total Swedish quota for the coastal fishery in these three areas (26 400 salmon).

Recreational fisheries in the sea and in rivers are also managed through national regulations.

Recreational coastal fisheries with trap nets in the counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten and part of Västernorrland were, as in latest years, allowed from 1 July until the quota of salmon within the commercial fishery was fulfilled. In SD 31, the salmon fishery was stopped 5 July 2020 when the regional salmon quota was filled. Hence, it was possible to conduct recreational fishing with

Recreational coastal fisheries with trap nets in the counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten and part of Västernorrland were, as in latest years, allowed from 1 July until the quota of salmon within the commercial fishery was fulfilled. In SD 31, the salmon fishery was stopped 5 July 2020 when the regional salmon quota was filled. Hence, it was possible to conduct recreational fishing with