UK: Improvement in fisheries science secures monkfish quota increase

Improvement in fisheries science secures monkfish quota increase. Fishermen in Shetland have welcomed an increase in monkfish quotas for next year, as agreed this week by the UK and the European Union as part of an annual fisheries agreement. Having regularly highlighted concerns over a lack of investment in fisheries science, the Shetland Fishermen’s Association has held up monkfish as an example of how unfair quota cuts – due to a lack of scientific knowledge – can be mitigated by committing extra resources to proper assessments of fish stocks. For years, monkfish was considered to be “data deficient”, with continuing precautionary quota cuts enacted as a result. However, a recent scientific benchmark of the monkfish stock – considering new data submissions, including from industry – resulted in enough information being gathered for the species to be upgraded to a full analytical assessment. SFA executive officer Daniel Lawson said: “Putting the funding and scientific effort ...