Report of the Working Group on Elasmobranch Fishes (WGEF)

<p dir="ltr">ICES WGEF is responsible for providing assessments and advice on the state of the stocks of sharks, skates, and rays throughout the ICES area. In 2025, WGEF provided advice for 5 stocks of skates and rays distributed in the North Sea and Azores ecoregions and seven stocks of sharks, six distributed in the Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay/West Iberia and North Sea ecoregions and one distributed in the Northeast Atlantic.</p><p dir="ltr">Three stocks were assessed at Category 2 level for the second time. WGEF also applied, for the second time, the empirical methods for stock assessment and catch advice developed by WKLIFE X to assess nine category 3 stocks and to provide advice within the ICES MSY framework. No advice was provided for category 5 and 6 stocks, as those will follow quadrennial advice.</p><p dir="ltr">Discard estimates continue to remain uncertain due to the fact that elasmobranchs are primarily caught as bycatch in a variety of fisheries. Achieving precise and unbiased estimates would require a high level of sampling effort. However, the group has made diligent efforts to collate and harmonize discard data (since 2009) categorized by country, fleet segment, and stock code. This has enabled the inclusion of discard data in this report for comprehensive presentation. Nevertheless, for most stocks, advice is provided in terms of landings.</p><p dir="ltr">No benchmark assessments have been proposed for 2026.</p>