Advice and Recommendations

The letter from the Pelagic Advisory Council (PelAC) addresses concerns regarding the implementation of a bycatch Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for North Sea horse mackerel, following ICES advice recommending zero catch due to the stock’s poor condition. It highlights challenges and inconsistencies in the implementation of the bycatch TAC across European Member States and emphasizes the need for harmonization to ensure a level playing field. Additionally, PelAC welcomes the Commission’s request to ICES for advice on establishing a monitoring TAC to gather sufficient data for future stock assessments.

The PelAC believes that developing an update multiannual management strategy for the Southern horse mackerel must be prioritised and recommended that the Commission submit a request to ICES to have the updated PelAC LTMS undergo a Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE).

The PelAC expressed their concerns and requested a full coordination of work on all horse mackerel stocks following the recent benmark assessment.

The PelAC calls for the European Commission and ICES to coordinate efforts to harmonise the assessment and management of all horse mackerel stocks. Addressing the highlighted data deficiencies, improving survey efforts, and integrating ecosystem considerations are crucial steps toward sustainable fisheries management.

Following earlier PelAC recommendations the PelAC requests the Commission’s support in expediting the ICES inter-benchmark meeting that is jointly dedicated to the three horse mackerel stocks.

Following the PelAC rebuilding plan for Western horse mackerel sent to the Commission in July 2020, the Pelac now recalls its recommendation for an urgent benchmark dedicated tot he three horese mackerel stocks.

The PelAC also wishes to point out that the decision for setting a ‘bycatch’ TAC for Western horse mackerel for 2023, has led to unforeseen pratical issues in the implementation by Member States, jeopardising the level palying field for EU industries fhishing this stock.

In this recommendation the PelAC outlines the difficulties encountered in the implementation of the bycatch quota in 2023 across the different Member States based on feedback received by its industry members, and asks for Commission support to establish coherence between MS approaches to avoid similar difficulties in 2024, as a fallback solution in the event that it is not possible to hold a benchmark in 2023.

In this letter the PelAC underlines the importance that the terms of reference of the benchmark clarifies the organization and assignment of individuals to carry out the various tasks detailed in our action plan for Western horse mackerel in particular. Furthermore, the PelAC notes that the horse mackerel assessments currently do not include genetic information related to stock identification.

PelAC requests an ICES (inter) benchmark meeting in 2023 that is jointly dedicated to the three horse mackerel stocks (Western, Southern and North Sea) combined, in order to secure an updated evaluation of the PelAC rebuilding plan for Western horse mackerel, as well as enable timely preparations of the negotiations for 2024 TACs.

The rebuilding plan for Western horse mackerel was finalized by Pelagic AC and submitted to the Commission in 2020. This rebuilding plan was evaluated by ICES in 2021 and deemed precautionary.

The recent ICES advice for this stock (published on 30 September 2022) recommends zero catches in 2023. This advice reflects the urgent need to step up efforts in adopting this plan as soon as possible. The purpose of the rebuilding plan is to ensure stock recovery to safe biomass levels as well as a long-term stock exploitation with the objective of achieving MSY. The PelAC would be grateful if the Commission could pursue, as a matter of urgency, the acceptance of the rebuilding plan for this stock in its negotiations with the UK during the next meeting of the Specialized Committee on Fisheries (SCF) organized by the end of October.

In this recommendation, the PelAC asked the Commission to support the Pelagic AC by requesting ICES to improve the quality of the data available for the North Sea horse mackerel and boarfish stocks, and to prioritize the transition of these two stocks to stronger ICES stock categories and subsequent full-assessments.

In its response, the Commission mentioned the planned benchmark meeting for the boarfish stock which would look at the available data. It also expressed its willingness to further discuss with ICES on the possibility of reinforcing science on these stocks in line with the suggestions made by the PelAC.

In Autumn 2020, the Pelagic AC convened a Southern horse mackerel Focus Group (SHOM FG) together with the SWWAC and discussed proposed amendments to the agreed LTMS. It was proposed during the meeting that the established target year to reach Fmsy within the strategy – the year 2025 – be amended to a target year of 2022, in order to bring the fishing opportunities based on the LTMS more swiftly in line with those based on the ICES MSY advice. Following a second meeting of the SHOM FG between the PelAC and the SWWAC on the 18th May where this decision was endorsed, the Pelagic AC informed the Commission of this single amendment – to Article 5.1 of the management strategy – which had been agreed on a consensus basis. The PelAC requested the Commission to urgently convey the revised LTMS to ICES so that it could be included for consideration in the WGHANSA meeting on 24th-28th May 2021.

The PelAC was surprised by the response from the Commission, indicating it would stick to ICES top-line advice on the basis of MSY, as its ‘legal basis’. The PelAC feels this is regrettable considering the amount of effort that the PelAC puts in developing management strategies/rebuilding plans, and will seek further clarification moving forward.