Salmon (Salmo salar) in subdivisions 22-31 (Baltic Sea, excluding the Gulf of Finland)

ICES advises that when the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) approach is applied, no more than 30 000 Atlantic salmon should be caught within subdivisions (SDs) 22–31 in 2026. This catch should be taken during the time period of 01 May until 31 August and only in the area of sub-divisions SDs 29N–31. To protect the weak Atlantic salmon stocks in Assessment Unit (AU) 5, there should be no catches outside of SDs 29N–31 and time period.

The fishery for Atlantic salmon in SDs 22–29S includes fish from stocks in AU 5 that have a percentage of smolt production relative to potential smolt production capacity below the R_lim range. To be consistent with ICES advice, catches (both marine and in-river) of stocks from AU 5 should be zero. Coastal fisheries in the Åland Sea and Gulf of Bothnia (SDs 29N–31) only catch salmon from rivers in AUs 1–3 during spawning migration. As such, ICES considers that if at-sea fishing can be confined to coastal fisheries during the spawning migration (01 May–31 August) in the Gulf of Bothnia and the Åland Sea, not extending beyond the current spatio-temporal fishing pattern, catches from AU 5 can be avoided.