Herring in Division VIa (North)

In the absence of precautionary reference points the state of the stock cannot be evaluated. An analytical assessment shows that SSB (in 2009) is 1.8 times Blim. ICES considers that the stock over recent years has been fluctuating at a low level and is being exploited close to Fmsy. Recruitment has been very low since 1998, and the 2001 and 2002 year classes are weak.