Certain regulatory changes went in a different direction. The first of EU discard plans, applicable for the Baltic Sea and adopted in late 2014, temporarily decreased the minimum conservation reference size (MCRS) for cod from 38 to 35 cm until the end of 2017. One of the reasons cited by the lawmaker to substantiate this reduction of regulatory standards was to “reduce current levels of discarding”. However, ICES Advice for 2017, published 31 May 2016 estimates the discard rate for the Eastern Baltic cod stock at “approximately 15%”, much more than before the introduction of Landing Obligation in the Baltic Sea, adding that the figure “is considered an underestimate” and that “the available information suggests that modification of the selectivity properties of the [towed] gear takes place, leading to a higher proportion of smaller fish being caught”