Neither fish nor meat: Berlin accused Russia of reducing fish stocks in the Baltic

Russia is allegedly responsible for overfishing and a "dramatic" reduction in fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. This accusation was made by the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Germany Cem Ozdemir on the sidelines of the EU summit in Luxembourg, his words are quoted by the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

Ozdemir claims:

"We know that Russian fishing practices have a dramatic impact on fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. For example, cod is caught during the spawning period, which contradicts all the principles of reasonable fishing."

According to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Germany from the Green Party, official Moscow allegedly "flouts" the principles of the European community, ignoring recommendations for maximum fishing in the Baltic Sea. At the same time, as Ozdemir himself emphasized, the Russian fishing fleet is not obliged to comply with the established EU regulations.

"Currently, the Russian fleet catches most of the total catch of Baltic cod. There is almost certainly an overfishing," Christopher Zimmermann, director of the Fisheries Institute in Rostock, said categorically.

According to the scientist, after February 2022, the official exchange of information on how many fish Russian and European vessels catch in the Baltic Sea also stopped between Russia and the EU.

The decision, according to diplomats who took part in the summit of the heads of the Ministry of Agriculture of the EU countries in Luxembourg, may be the introduction of higher tariffs on Russian fishery products. Ozdemir himself also welcomed this initiative, noting that the introduction of additional duties on Russian fish could allegedly be an additional way to "limit Moscow's revenues."

It is noteworthy that the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of Germany is a staunch vegetarian. Earlier, Ozdemir repeatedly called on Germans to limit the consumption of meat and fish, and also spoke positively about initiatives to exclude animal products from the menus of German schools and kindergartens.