A new report conducted by the NAFC Marine Centre in the Shetland Islands, has revealed that more than half of the main species landed by Scottish whitefish vessels come from stocks that are data deficient.
Data deficient stocks are those for which no scientific assessment has been carried out to ascertain the state of the stock.
Dr Martin Robinson of the NAFC Marine Centre, said to World Fishing: “These are species that have no specific data reference points so we have not been able to measure decreasing stocks.”
"The industry is feeling the pinch in the Shetlands, cutting quotas as a precautionary measure, rather than matching quotas to scientific figures is causing a problem economically."
The review aims to pull data together in one document as opposed to just using figures from EU working groups. NAFC aim to take a more long term approach – monitoring stocks over a number of years, by creating this initial benchmark review.
NAFC’s review is perhaps paving the way for other fishing community’s to do the same thing - maybe even helping to adjust fishing quotas based on accurate figures for declining fish stocks, rather than assumptions.
The combined fishing and aquaculture industries of Shetland are worth around £280 million so the industry makes up a valuable and important part of the Scottish economy.
