Report of the ICES Advisory Committee on Fishery Management and Advisory Committee on Ecosystems, 2004, Book 1 - Introduction, Overviews, Special Requests, and Regional Advice

Part 1

Preface

Participants at Meetings, Spring and Autumn 2004

1 ICES ADVICE

1.1 Introduction 1-1

1.2 New Report Format 1-1

1.3 The Scientific Basis for Advice 1-2

1.3.1 Ecosystem Approach 1-2

1.3.2 Sector Approach 1-2

1.3.3 Assessment of the Quality Status of Ecosystems 1-3

1.4 The Form of ICES Advice 1-3

1.4.1 The Form of Advice on the state of the ecosystem 1-3

1.4.2 Sectoral advice 1-3

1.4.3 Fisheries Advice 1-3

1.5 Reference Points for the Status of Fish Stocks 1-7

1.6 Catch projections for the current and the following year 1-7

1.7 Management Advice for Mixed Fisheries 1-8

1.7.1 The incorporation of ecosystem considerations 1-9

1.8 Quality of Fishery Statistics 1-9

1.9 Information from the fishing industry 1-11

1.10 Environment Impact on Fish Stocks 1-11

2 GENERAL ADVICE 1-14

2.1 Answers to Special Requests 1-14

2.1.1 EC DG Fish 1-14

2.1.1.1 Answer to Special Request on Rockall Haddock 1-14

2.1.1.2 Status List of EU Fish Stocks 1-45

2.1.1.3 Advice concerning autumn-spawning and Spring-spawning Herring in Kattegat/Skagerrak 1-55

2.1.1.4 Ecosystem Impacts of Industrial Fisheries 1-58

2.1.1.5 New Information on the occurrence of and threats to cold water corals Including also the Northwest Atlantic 1-81

2.1.1.6 Special request to ICES on Haddock in ICES Divisions VII, VIII, IX, X, and COPACE 34.1.1 1-106

2.1.2 EC DG Environment 1-115

2.1.2.1 Information and advice about appropriate eco-regions for the implementation of an ecosystem approach in European waters 1-115

2.1.3 Helsinki Commission 1-132

2.1.3.1 the Status of Sea Populations in the Baltic Marine Area 1-132

2.1.3.2 Marine habitat classification and mapping system for the Baltic Sea; 1-135

2.1.4 IBSFC 1-137

2.1.4.1 Areas within the Gotland Deep and Gdansk Deep where the hydrological conditions allow for a successful Cod spawning in 2004 1-137

2.1.4.2 Update of the catch forecast for the Cod stock in subdivisions 25-32 for 2004 based on information on catches in 2003 1-142

2.1.4.3 Evaluation of the Management Plan for Cod stocks in the Baltic Sea with regard to the precautionary approach 1-144

2.1.4.4 Evaluation of the appropriateness of the mesh sizes allowed in the Herring trawl fisheries in relation to the correspondence between mesh size and the Herring population size structure 1-151

2.1.4.5 Evaluation of the selective properties of trawls using 90º turned diamond meshes and advice on appropriate mesh sizes corresponding to the BACOMA gear 110 mm window 1-153

2.1.4.6 Advice on hook parameters in long line fisheries that corresponds with the minimum landing size of Cod of 38 cm. Evaluation of the relations between number of hooks fished in longline settings and discards rates 1-154

2.1.4.7 Revision of the estimate of smolt production potential in wild Salmon rivers 1-155

2.1.4.8 Review and evaluation of factors that are important for smolt survival in the Gulf of Finland 1-158

2.1.4.9 Estimation of the mortality generated on Gulf of Finland Salmon in fisheries taking place in the Main Basin 1-159

2.1.4.10 Information on landings and discards by fisheries in the most recent years 1-161

2.1.5 NASCO information on North Atlantic Salmon 1-169

2.1.6 NEAFC 1-171

2.1.6.1 Review of Sebastes mentella stock structure 1-171

2.1.6.2 Information on areas and seasons with spawning aggregations of Deep-sea species and deep-sea habitats vulnerable to fishing activities 1-172

2.1.7 OSPAR 1-177

2.1.7.1 Ecological Quality Objectives 1-177

2.1.7.2 Existing Methods of identifying rare, threatened, and declinging fish species 1-250

2.1.8 Governments 1-251

2.1.8.1 Netherlands Request for advice for North Sea Plaice management 1-251

2.1.8.2 Iceland - Provide separate advice for each app. Sebastes mentella components in its distribution area 1-252

2.1.8.3 UK sole in division VIIe (Western Channel) 1-253

2.1.8.4 UK Request for advice on VIa and VIIa Nephrops 1-262

2.1.8.5 Norway Request for advice on Sandeel stock in the North Sea 1-266

2.1.8.6 Russia Norway Evaluation of the Harvest Control Rule Northeast Arctic Cod and Haddock 1-269

Part 2

3 REGIONAL ADVICE 1-274

3.1 Northeast Arctic (Subareas I and II) 1-274

3.2 North-Western Areas (Division Va and Subareas XII and XIV) 1-286

3.3 Faroe Islands (Division Vb) 1-304

3.4 North Sea (Subarea IV), Skagerrak and Kattegat (Division IIIa) and the Eastern Channel (Division VIId) 1-313

3.5 Waters West of Scotland (Subarea VI) 1-342

3.6 The Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea and Southwest of Ireland (Divisions VIIb,c,f,g,h,j,k), Western Channel (Division VIIe), and northern parts of the Bay of Biscay (Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e) 1-355

3.7 The Iberian Region (Division VIIIc and Subareas IX and X) 1-384

3.8 The Baltic 1-404

3.9 Widely Distributed and Migratory Stocks and Populations 1-425

3.10 Deep-water Populations and habitats 1-435