First steps towards providing management advice for the Bay of Biscay squid (Loligo vulgaris)

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

In the Bay of Biscay, cephalopod catches were in the past by-catches of demersal trawl fisheries that targeted hake, anglerfish, megrim or sole among others. However, in the last years cephalopods obtained in multispecies fisheries are becoming more important in terms of the share of the catch that they represent or the income for fishers. They have even become target species for some trips in certain seasons of the year. Due to this increase in catches and economic importance, there has been an increasing effort within ICES to compile all the information available on cephalopods in the North East Atlantic with the objective of providing management advice in the short term. One of these species is the common squid (Loligo vulgaris) in the Bay of Biscay (ICES divisions VIIIa,b,d). This work represents the first attempts for providing management advice for this stock. After compiling and reviewing the available data, two alternative methods in which to base the management advice are tested: the ICES approach for data-limited stocks and a biomass dynamic assessment model. Trends in abundance indices are compared to model outputs. Although the results are promising, the shortlived nature and the high fluctuations of the stock motivate further method developments.