Flounder (Platichthys flesus) in Subarea IV and Division IIIa (North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat)

ICES  advises  that  when  the  precautionary  approach  is  applied,  catches  should  be  no  more  than  5228 tonnes  in  each  of  the years 2016  and  2017.  If  discard  rates  do  not  change  from  the  average  of  the  last  three years  (2012–2014),  this  implies  landings of no more than 2876 tonnes.

Management of dab and flounder under a combined species TAC prevents effective control of the single-species exploitation rates and could lead to overexploitation of either species.