Report of the Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Stocks in the Baltic

At the Statutory Meeting of ICES in 1990, it was decided (C.Res.1990/2:5:9) that the Working Group on the Assessment of Demersal Stocks in the Baltic would meet at ICES Headquarters from 3-12 April 1991 to:

1) assess the status of and provide catch options for 1992 within safe biological limits for the cod stocks in the Baltic;

2) consider the Report of the Working Group on Multispecies Assessments of Baltic Fish and provide the data requested by that Working Group;

3) update the catch tables and, if possible, provide catch-at-age data for plaice, flounder, dab, turbot and brill which are maintained by the Working Group;

4) advise further on the effects of introducing square mesh codends in trawls used in the cod fishery, taking into account the results of any recent experiments;

5) evaluate the short- and long-term effects on the cod stocks of introducing a closure of the fishery on cod in the whole Baltic from 1 March to 30 April;

6) advise on the effect on the flounder stock of increasing the by-catch allowance for flounder in Sub-division 26 from 10 % to 30 %;

7) advise on the conservation effect on the flounder stock of a ban on the trawl fishery in the Oderbank area in waters less than 10 m in depth.