Indicators 5, 6, and 7 of DCF Annex XII

ICES presents the first attempts at providing indices for DCF indicators 5, 6, and 7. The results are based on data submitted for an ICES datacall for VMS data sent to 20 countries. Data were submitted by 14 of these countries, and the missing data have  meant  that  ICES  cannot  be  comprehensive  in  the  advice.  In  those  areas  where  data  are  sufficient  to  make  an  assessment, the ‘fishing footprint’ has become smaller in the past five years or has remained approximately constant. In the North Sea, it appears that as overall fishing effort declines, effort becomes more concentrated