UK: Pelagic Advisory Council sets out stall over 2025 fishing opportunities

Published Oct 10, 2024

Tridge summary

The Pelagic Advisory Council (PelAC) has expressed concerns to the EC director general of fisheries about the proposed fishing opportunities for pelagic stocks in 2025, with a focus on NE Atlantic mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian herring, and blue whiting. PelAC warns about the risk of excessive unilateral quotas, which have led to overfishing since 2010, and calls for a comprehensive sharing agreement and Long-Term Management Strategy that adhere to scientific advice and an ecosystem-based approach. They also recommend updating the Total Allowable Catch for North-East Atlantic mackerel to 576,958 tons in 2025, in accordance with ICES advice, and the development of a mechanism to incorporate new data. PelAC also emphasizes the need to revise management measures following ICES's discovery that there is only one mackerel stock component, not three as previously thought.

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Original content

Pelagic Advisory Council (PelAC), sets out stall over 2025 fishing opportunities. The Pelagic Advisory Council has written to EC director general of fisheries over the recently announced proposals for fishing opportunities for pelagic stocks in 2025, raising particular concerns over the situation for NE Atlantic mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting. On NE Atlantic mackerel, PelAC states: “The PelAC expresses its deep concern about the continuing risk of certain Coastal States setting excessive unilateral quotas, leading to mackerel catches significantly exceeding the advised Total Allowable Catch (TAC). This has happened in every year since 2010 by up to 40%. “The PelAC highlights that the 2024 agreement between the UK, Norway and the Faroes, rather than solving the problem, attempts to legitimise the setting of excessive and inflated unilateral quotas by some parties in recent years and rewards continued overfishing based on these inflated quotas, which deviate ...

Source: Fish Focus