Trends in abundance of cod, haddock and whiting from UK Fisheries Science Partnership roundfish surveys of the Irish Sea: 2004 - 2011

This Working Document is derived from a draft Fisheries Science Partnership report currently in preparation, for use by the ICES Working Group on the Celtic Seas Ecoregion. The results are not to be cited without permission from the primary author. The final report will eventually be published on the Cefas web site.
The Irish Sea roundfish survey was developed in 2003 as a fully collaborative project between the fishing industry and Cefas scientists. It forms part of the UK Fisheries Science Partnership funded by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The scope of the FSP programme, and reports for all completed projects, are available on the FSP page of the Cefas web site.
The main objective of the Irish Sea roundfish survey is to develop a time-series of data to track year-on-year changes in abundance, population structure and distribution of the target species (cod, haddock and whiting). The results of the surveys provide information supporting the scientific assessment of the stocks and the management of the fisheries in the Irish Sea. Results of the surveys have been provided annually to WGCSE, and this WD is the same as provided to WGCSE 2011 and has not been updated to include the stock trends from the WGCSE 2011 assessments.