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PELAGIC ADVISORY COUNCIL SETS OUT STALL OVER 2025 FISHING OPPORTUNITIES

PELAGIC ADVISORY COUNCIL (PELAC)

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 significantly from the shares applicable under the last sharing agreement dating back to 2014.

“It is now clear that, in the absence of a comprehensive agreement between all Coastal States, there is a real and immediate danger that the setting of excessive and inflated quotas will continue, and jeopardise the future sustainability of the stock. The PELAC notes that the EU is the only Coastal State that has not set a unilateral quota and catches have remained in line with the quota set. Given the most recent ICES advice, the PelAC is very concerned about the risk of the stock falling below Blim in the long term, leading ICES to issue zero catch advice.

“The PELAC highlights this risk will increase significantly if Coastal States continue to set unilateral quotas. The PelAC stresses the importance of the Commission addressing this issue In this context, the PelAC reiterates the urgent need for the Coastal States to adopt:

– A comprehensive sharing agreement respecting historic catch levels and ensure the MSY advice is not exceeded;

– A Long-Term Management Strategy (LTMS) that is deemed precautionary by ICES and consistent with the internationally agreed objectives of fishing below MSY levels. This LTMS should be based on Ftarget and MSYBtrigger that give additional stability to catches in the medium to long term. The LTMS should follow an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management that considers ecosystem and climate change in mackerel productivity in the North-East Atlantic. The LTMS should also aim to ensure the role of the stock in maintaining healthy food webs in the ecosystem, in line with the ecosystem-based approach.

– The PelAC stresses the urgent need to bring forward a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) considering these variables, to help improve stock management decisions. This should include a set of robustness/sensitivity scenario tests that take into account existing uncertainties or plausible implementation errors, such as catches made in excess of the TAC.

“The PelAC recommends following ICES advice on MSY and setting the TAC for North-East Atlantic mackerel at 576 958 tons in 2025. The PelAC notes that ICES has planned a benchmark for this stock at the beginning of 2025. The PelAC requests that Coastal States request ICES to reassess the mackerel assessment following this benchmark and that once this reassessment has been completed, the TAC be updated.

“The PelAC suggests that ICES should develop and put in place a mechanism in place to allow for the incorporation of new relevant data as it becomes available outside of the benchmarking process.

“The PelAC highlights that the issue of climate change and ecosystem changes affecting mackerel and fishing patterns should be incorporated into the comparative assessment of mackerel and requests the Commission to raise this issue for pelagic stocks. In this regard, the PelAC stresses that mackerel is not only important for fisheries, but it is also a critical species to secure healthy food webs of NE Atlantic ecosystem due to its role as prey for many predatory fish and other marine animals. T

“The PELAC highlights that the rebuilding, protection and sustainable use of the mackerel stock is in accordance with the CFP and ecosystem-based fisheries management alongside with environmental policies and commitments such as: Maritime Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Global Biodiversity Framework.

“The PelAC highlights, that ICES concluded that contrary to the previous scientific advice they have identified that there is in fact only one mackerel stock component, not three as previously thought. This constitutes a major change in the perception of the stock and how it should be managed. The EU management regime for mackerel was designed since three stock components, including a small component in the Southern North Sea. This is no longer a valid approach.

“The PelAC recommends that the Commission initiates a timely process to analyse and update all existing management measures to accommodate the new consolidated scientific perception of the stock. The PelAC suggests that the Commission adapt necessary legislation to ensure coherence.

The PelAC highlights the need to consolidate conservation measures such as MCRS, and special conditions in areas 3 and 4 that were designed to protect a mackerel stock component that according to ICES does not exist. The PelAC is committed to engaging with The Commission and scientific institutions to facilitate this process.

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