Sole (Solea solea, S. senegalensis, and Pegusa lascaris) in ICES areas Divisions VIIIc and IXa (Cantabrian Sea, Atlantic Iberian Waters)

ICES advises that when the precautionary approach is applied, catches in each of the years 2016 and 2017 should be no more than the catch advised for 2013, 2014 and 2015; this corresponds to a 20% reduction with respect to the average catch of 2009-2011 but, due to uncertainties in the data, the value can not be quantified. Discards are considered to be negligible.

Management of all sole species under a combined TAC prevents effective control of each single-species exploitation rate and could potentially lead to over-exploitation of all of the species.