Greater North Sea Ecoregion - Fisheries Overview

<p dir="ltr"><b>Key signals</b></p><ul><li>Vessel numbers have declined across the majority of the countries fishing in the ecoregion in the past decade.</li><li>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.</li><li>Discard rates of benthic and crustacean stocks have declined in recent years, while discards of demersal stocks have increased.</li><li>Fishing mortalities have generally declined since 2000 and are below the F_MSYlevel for three-quarters of the assessed stocks. However, some stocks continue to be fished above F_MSY, particularly in the demersal group.</li><li>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.</li><li>In relation to mixed fisheries:</li></ul><p dir="ltr"> 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.</p><p dir="ltr"> o Fleet landings compositions have remained relatively stable since 2015, however, gradual trends in the dominance of target stocks are seen for some fleets.</p><p dir="ltr"> o Annual mixed fisheries forecasts most often indicate that the majority of fleets will be choked by North Sea/Northern Shelf cod.</p><ul><li>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.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">Supporting data used in the Greater North Sea fisheries overview is accessible at: <a href="https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.27879879" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.27879879</a></p>