Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) in Subarea 4 (North Sea)

ICES  advises  that  when  the precautionary  approach  is  applied,  catches  should  be  no  more  than 1995 tonnes  in  each  of  the years 2016 and 2017. If discard rates do not change from 2014, this implies landings of no more than 1925 tonnes.

Management  of  turbot  and  brill  under  a  combined  species  TAC  prevents  effective  control  of  the  single  species  exploitation rates and could lead to the overexploitation of either species.