Greater North Sea ecoregion – fisheries overview

<p dir="ltr">Key signals</p><p dir="ltr">-Vessel numbers have declined across the majority of the countries fishing in the ecoregion in the past decade.</p><p dir="ltr">-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.</p><p dir="ltr">-Discard rates of benthic and crustacean stocks have declined in recent years, while discards of demersal stocks have increased.</p><p dir="ltr">-Fishing mortalities have generally declined since 2000 and are below the FMSY level for three-quarters of the assessed stocks. However, some stocks continue to be fished above FMSY, particularly in the demersal group.</p><p dir="ltr">-Spawning-stock biomass (SSB) has generally been stable or increasing since 2000, although some stocks remain below MSY Btrigger, particularly in the demersal group.</p><p dir="ltr">-In relation to mixed fisheries:</p><ul><li>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.</li><li>Fleet landings compositions have remained relatively stable since 2015, however, gradual trends in the dominance of target stocks are seen for some fleets.</li><li>Annual mixed fisheries forecasts most often indicate that the majority of fleets will be choked by North Sea/Northern Shelf cod.</li></ul><p dir="ltr">-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.</p>