Rebuilding Baltic Sea fish populations

The event "Rebuilding Baltic Sea fish populations - A dialogue across science, policy, fisheries and civil society" will take place on 1 October 2026 (12:30-14:00 CET) during Ocean Week in Brussels, Belgium. The event is organized by CCB in collaboration with the European Anglers Alliance (EAA), Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) and WWF Finland.

Several important Baltic Sea fish populations remain depleted or have collapsed. Despite years of restrictive fisheries measures, genuine recovery has often failed to materialise. At the same time, fish populations are affected by a combination of fishing pressure and wider environmental changes, including poor oxygen conditions, climate change, habitat degradation and changes in the Baltic food web.

As policy discussions develop around future rebuilding plans and frameworks to urgently rebuild Baltic Sea fish populations, this event will bring together scientists, policymakers, environmental and recreational fisher organisations and small-scale fisher representatives to explore what genuine rebuilding should entail.

The event is intended as a constructive, cross-sectoral exchange exploring areas of agreement, difficult trade-offs and the steps needed to move from managing decline towards enabling true recovery that supports resilient fish populations and viable coastal fishing communities in the Baltic Sea.

Provisional Programme

• Overview of the Baltic Sea’s environmental condition, pressures and particular characteristics;
• Scientific perspective on genuine fish-stock recovery and the limitations of conventional indicators and reference points;
• Roundtable with scientific contributors, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) [TBC], WWF Finland, Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) and the European Anglers Alliance (EAA).

Extra info

This is an in-person event and a light lunch will be provided to the registered participants. The lunch will be served from 12:15 CET.

Language: English

Registration: Registration is required via a link. The deadline to register is on Friday, 25 September.

Contact: Cathrine Pedersen Schirmer, CCB Senior Fisheries Policy Advisor, cathrine@ccb.se

Funded by


CCB positions reflected in these materials are not automatically transferred and do not reflect HAVs position on these topics