ADHOC - Evaluation of proposed long term management plan for Celtic Sea herring

In 2008, the Irish local fishery management committee developed a rebuilding plan for this stock. In 2009, the plan was evaluated by ICES and found to be in accordance with the precautionary approach, within the estimated stock dynamics. The plan was adopted by the Pelagic RAC and it was used as a basis for the 2010 and 2011 TACs. The plan came to completion at the end of 2011, with full rebuilding, however the HCR within it was used as the basis for setting the TAC in 2012.

A long term management plan to supersede this rebuilding plan has been proposed by the Irish industry, the local committee and the Pelagic RAC. This plan has been forwarded to ICES by Ireland, to evaluate if it is in accordance with the Precautionary Approach and MSY. The plan and request is presented above, and a schematic repre-sentation of the harvest control rule is presented in Figure 1. Below, are the results of simulations conducted to evaluate the precautionary nature of this plan, and its ac-cordance with MSY.