Report of the Mackerel Working Group

  

At the 73rd Statutory Meeting in London it was decided (C.Res.1985/2:3:2) that the Mackerel Working Group (Chairman: Dr. S.J. Lockwood) should meet at lCES headquarters from 17 February to 26 February 1986 to:

a) consider the report of the Mackerel Egg Production Workshop;

b) provide a comprehensive examination of the Norwegian tagging data used as a basis for estimating the rate of mixing between the North Sea and Western stocks of mackerel in Divisions IIa, Vb, and VIa and Sub-area IV;

c) assess the status of and provide catch options for 1987 for the mackerel stocks in Sub-areas lI-VII and Divisions Villa and b within safe biological limits;

d) specify safe biological limits for the two mackerel stocks;

e) provide quarterly catch-at-age and mean weight-at-age data for 1985 mackerel as input for the Multispecies VPA, and provide information on the likely level of the Western stock mackerel which are seasonally present in the North Sea

f) provide information relative to the following request from the EEC pertaining to the closed area for fishing for mackerel in Divisions Vlle,f,g: "ACFM is requested to evaluate the effect of this closure on the evolution of the Western mackerel stock and in the light of both this evaluation and the current state of this stock, in particular of its distribution, advise the Commission of the European Communities:

- whether the existing provisions concerning the closed area should be retained in their present form, modified or completely repealed;

- whether alternative or additional measures should be introduced and, if so, to advise what these measures should be.

If different opinions exist for achieving the objective of protecting the juvenile component of the stock, these should be described and their advantages and disadvantages examined".