Joint EU–Norway request on management measures for Norway pout

ICES  advises  that  the proposed management strategies  (Options  1,  2,  and 3) are in accordance with the precautionary approach and lead to sustainable yields, under certain constraints.  

For option 1, the minimum annual TAC should be at 27 000 tonnes or lower, whereas for options 2 and 3, fixed initial TACs (TAC for the first half of the year) up to 50 000 tonnes are possible. For option 2, the TAC for the second half of the year should not exceed 70% of the value corresponding to an annual F = 0.35 after subtracting the catch taken in the first half of the year.

A main constraint in all options is that future fishing capacity should not exceed the range of the values observed in the last decade. This constraint is not critical if a maximum annual TAC of 100 000 tonnes or less is applied in option 1, or if the fixed TAC for the first half of the year does not exceed 25 000 tonnes in option 2. High values of the maximum TAC in option 1 (250 000 tonnes), of the fixed initial TAC in option 2 (50 000 tonnes), and even low values of the fixed initial  TAC  in  option  3  (25  000  tonnes),  should  be  complemented  with  effort  management  to  ensure  that  fishing  mortality remains within the range of values observed for the last decade. Alternatively, the application of a maximumvalue for F as part of the management strategies could be explored.