Atlantic salmon from the Northeast Atlantic

ICES has evaluated the advice published in 2021 (see below) and ICES confirms that this advice conforms to our standards of best available science. ICES considers it suitable to inform management actions and it remains valid for the fishing seasons 2022/2023 to 2024/2025

   

Summary of advice for fishing seasons 2021/2022 to 2023/2024

  

ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, fishing should only take place on salmon from rivers where stocks have been shown to be at full reproductive capacity. Furthermore, because of the different status of individual stocks within stock complexes, mixed-stock fisheries present particular threats. The management of a fishery should ideally be based on the individual status of all stocks exploited in the fishery.

In the absence of any fisheries in the fishing seasons 2021/2022 to 2023/2024, there is a less than 95% probability of spawner escapement reserves (SERs) being met for potential 1-sea-winter (1SW) and multi-sea-winter (MSW) salmon from the Southern NEAC stock complex and for the 1SW salmon from the Northern NEAC stock complex. Therefore, in the absence of specific management objectives, ICES advises that the catch on both NEAC complexes at the Faroes in the fishing seasons 2021/2022 to 2023/2024 should be zero. In the absence of any fisheries over these three seasons, the probabilities of individual countries meeting their SERs range from 22% to 97% for maturing 1SW salmon and 17% to 99% for salmon maturing as MSW. Some of the management units (countries/juristictions) are exploited at very low levels; however, in the absence of a management decision on which units should be included in the catch options analysis, all management units are currently included.

A Framework of Indicators (FWI) has previously been developed in support of the multi-year catch advice and the potential approval of multi-year regulatory measures for the Faroes. The FWI has been updated and can be applied at the beginning of 2022, using the returns or return rate data for 2021 to evaluate the appropriateness of the advice for 2022/2023, and again at the beginning of 2023, using the returns or return rate data for 2022 to evaluate the appropriateness of the advice for 2023/2024.