EU request on draft recommendations for the assessment of MSFD Descriptor 3

ICES  advises  a common approach comprising four  steps  for  the  assessment  of  MSFD  Descriptor  3 (EU,  2010) which represents a logical framework for the evaluation of good environmental status (GES) for commercially exploited fish and  shellfish  stocks.  The  four  steps  include  1)  prepare a  list  of  commercially  exploited  fish  and  shellfish  stocks,  2)  catalogue and document available information for each of the selected stocks, 3) evaluate the stock performance against MSFD Descriptor 3 criteria, and 4) determine the overall status by MSFD region/subregion.

In  addition,  ICES offers  a  number  of  generic recommendations to facilitate  the  consistent  evaluation  of  MSFD Descriptor 3  across  the  MSFD  regions  (the Baltic  Sea,  the  Northeast  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  the  Black Sea) and to address identified gaps.