Greater North Sea Ecoregion - Fisheries Overview

Key signals

• Vessel numbers have declined across the majority of the countries fishing in the ecoregion in the past decade.
• Total landings fluctuated around about 2 million tonnes from 2005 to 2019. Since 2020 there has been a further decline in landings to around 1.6 million tonnes.
• Discard rates of benthic and crustacean stocks have declined in recent years, while discards of demersal stocks have increased.
• Fishing mortalities have generally declined since 2000 and are below the F_MSY level for three-quarters of the assessed stocks. However, some stocks continue to be fished above F_MSY, particularly in the demersal group.
• Spawning-stock biomass (SSB) has generally been stable or increasing since 2000, although some stocks remain below MSY B_trigger, particularly in the demersal group.
• In relation to mixed fisheries:

o In general, only one or two métiers dominate the share of landings for individual stocks, however, smaller proportions of stock landings are often taken by a large number of other métiers.

o Fleet landings compositions have remained relatively stable since 2015, however, gradual trends in the dominance of target stocks are seen for some fleets.

o Annual mixed fisheries forecasts most often indicate that the majority of fleets will be choked by North Sea/Northern Shelf cod.

• Fisheries impacts on benthic habitats have been declining on average since 2019. However, this decrease is not universal across all habitats, with offshore mud and coarse sediments showing a less consistent decline.

Supporting data used in the Greater North Sea fisheries overview is accessible at: https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.27879879