The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended cuts to 2024’s mackerel and Atlanto-Scandian herring quotas and an increase in the blue whiting catch.
ICES, the science organisation responsible for advising governments on sustainable catch limits, advised that a steep cut of 44% is needed in the Atlanto-Scandian herring total allowable catch (TAC) – equivalent to 302,932 tonnes. Its 2024 advice is for a 390,101-tonne quota.
The stock is judged to be on a downward trajectory, due to weak year classes after 2016. This is expected to continue to decline until 2025, even if the quota advice is adhered to.
ICES has also predicted this year’s herring catch will reach 693,000 tonnes, which will be almost 182,000 tonnes above the agreed quota.
The council has also advised a 5% reduction in the 2024 Northeast Atlantic mackerel TAC to 739,386 tonnes, with the spawning stock judged to be in a healthy state, although it also pointed out the sum of the unilateral quotas for mackerel and the resulting catches have exceeded the scientific advice by on average 44% since 2010.
For blue whiting, ICES has advised a TAC of 1,529,754 tonnes for 2024, an increase of 13% on the agreed 1,359,629 tonnes for this year, with the stock deemed to be biologically strong.
It has also upped its advice for horse mackerel in the North Sea and Skagerrak to 9,730 tonnes for 2024 and 2025, an increase of 8%. However, its recommendation is for a zero catch of western horse mackerel in 2024.
