Seafish has published its latest summary document showing the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) agreed by the European Union for 2014, compared with the scientific recommendations made by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).
The report shows that, out of the 69 stocks compared, the TAC for 32 of the stocks is either below or complies exactly with the ICES advice. In particular, North Sea stocks of haddock, cod, herring and hake scientific advice is being followed very closely.
However, Bill Lart, sustainability and data advisor at Seafish said, There are also 31 stocks where the Council TAC does not appear to follow headline ICES advice (in excess of 10%). Those stocks where there is most deviation from the advised TAC are the stocks assessed by data limited methods.
He said that the management of these data limited stocks are likely to improve over the coming years as methods are refined, and they become routinely considered by managers.
On the plus side there is a steady increase in the number of stocks for which quantitative advice is available and overall there is a continued improvement in the state of the stocks in Atlantic European waters, said Mr Lart. The number of overfished stocks (where the most recent fishing mortality is higher than that which will provide a Maximum Sustainable Yield) has fallen from 47% in 2012 to 39% in 2013, compared with a high of 94% in 2007.
Mercator Media Ltd 2014