In our briefing for the December Council, at which TACs and quotas will be set for the majority of EU fish stocks, we have called on Ministers to set fishing opportunities in line with the principle of MSY management.
In line with the newly revised Common Fisheries Policy, catch limits should be set in line with the scientific advice provided by ICES and STECF, applying Fmsy for stocks for which this mortality level has been established. Existing long-term management plans should be adhered to provided they are consistend with the MSY framework. Moreover, for stocks where their status is unknown relative to MSY proxies, catch limits should be reduced. The EMFF trilogues offer an opportunity to significantly increase the data collection budget from 2014 onward and help to reduce the number of data poor stocks.
To focus the briefing, we have selected key stocks where the Commission proposal has deviated from scientific advice or where the Council has in the past decided upon a quota without a sound scientific basis. In the attached annex, we have focused on several cod and haddock stocks, as well as anglerfish, southern hake and nephrops.