WWF warns of poor conditions for fish in North and Baltic seas

Environmental advocacy group WWF warned that the North Sea and Baltic Sea fisheries are in poor condition, with fish stocks threatened by climate change and overfishing.
"The past five years have been the worst years in history for the Baltic herring. Its recovery will take a long time. And the cod population in the western Baltic Sea has completely collapsed in recent years," WWF Germany fisheries expert Karoline Schacht said in a statement on Monday.
The group called for the establishment of large wildlife refuge areas in the Baltic and North seas where aquatic life would be protected from commercial fishing. The group also called for tighter controls of commercial fish harvests.
Better protection and conservation of fish populations in the North and Baltic seas could allow Germans to start regularly eating locally caught fish again, the group said.
"Fish from domestic production is now a rarity," Schacht said.
She said that about 80% of fish and seafood consumed in Germany is imported, such as Alaska pollock, tuna or shrimp. Most of it arrives canned or frozen.
"If we want to continue eating local wild fish, we urgently need to improve their living conditions," she said. "Healthy fish stocks only exist in healthy seas - it's inextricably linked."
Last year, private households in Germany bought 434,413 tons of fish and seafood and spent €4.9 billion on it, according to the Fish Information Centre. The favourite kind of fish to eat in Germany is Alaska pollock, followed by salmon, tuna, herring and prawns.