The 2006 North Sea Stock Survey (NSSS) report, which has been compiled at the NAFC Marine Centre, has been submitted to the ICES Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Stocks in the North Sea and Skagerrak (WGNSSK).
In the survey fishermen from Scotland, England, Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands are asked for their perceptions on the eight main stocks (cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, monkfish, plaice, sole and Nephrops) in the areas of the North Sea in which they fish.
This important survey allows a year-on-year comparison between the views of fishermen and scientists on the relative health of the main commercially fished stocks, in terms of abundance, recruitment, discards and fish size.
The data collected in 2006 highlight some important changes in the perceptions of abundance. These include the perception that whiting stocks have increased in the northern and north-western North Sea and that there have been increases in cod, sole and plaice abundances in the eastern North Sea. The general perception for haddock, saithe, monkfish and Nephrops was that there had been little change in stocks in the last year.
The data in the report will now be analysed by the WGNSSK when they convene in early September.
