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The decision on quotas, as was the case in 2014, was made following proposals put forward during the Baltic Sea region cooperation forum "Baltifish", which differed from the European Commission's initial proposal.

According to the AGRIFISH Council's decision, the following catch quotas were approved for Latvian fishermen – total allowable catches (TACs) in the Baltic Sea for sprat reduced by 11%, TACs for herring in the Gulf of Riga increased by 26%, TACs for herring in the central part of the Baltic Sea increased by 45%, TACs for salmon in the Baltic Sea reduced by 10%, TACs for cod in the western part of the Baltic Sea reduced by 6%, in the eastern part – by 22%.

In addition, the agreement provides that there is a roll-over on the fishing effort limits indicating the number of days at sea for cod fishing (147 days for Western Baltic and 146 days for Eastern Baltic).

Baltic herring fishing quota will increase for Estonia both at the open part of the Baltic Sea and in Gulf of Riga, Postimees Online reports.

"The abundance of fish is such that we have the opportunity to bring very good news to Estonian fishermen. At negotiations with the European Commission and ministers of other Member States we reached an agreement on the growth of fishing possibilities of fish species that are especially important for Estonia," said environment minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus.

Next year, Estonian Baltic herring fishing quota in the open part of the Baltic Sea will be 18,363 tonnes, or 45% more than this year. In the Gulf of Riga, next year the herring quota is 17,908 tonnes, which is 26% more than in 2014.

At the beginning of negotiations, the European Commission sought to cut the Baltic sprat fishing quota by 17%. Estonia did not agree to such a large reduction of the quota and according to the agreement concluded, the cut is in the 11% range. In 2015, Estonia can catch 24,465 tonnes of sprat.

The European Commission also proposed to reduce the Gulf of Finland salmon fishing quota by 23%, but Estonia's position was that the abundance of salmon permits keeping salmon fishing quota unchanged in 2015, and such a result was achieved in the negotiations. Next year, 1,344 salmons can be caught from the Gulf of Finland. The salmon fishing quota of the open part of the Baltic Sea was cut by 10% to 2,020 salmon.

Estonian fishermen can catch 1,305 tonnes of cod next year, by 336 tons less than this year.