Workshop on Fish of Bycatch Relevance (WKFIBRE)

The Workshop on Fish of Bycatch Relevance (WKFIBRE) convened to revisit and revise the criteria for updating the list of endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) fish species of bycatch relevance for all ICES Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea ecoregions. WKFIBRE based its work on the outcomes of the ICES Workshop on Fish of Conservation and Bycatch Relevance (WKCOFIBYC), particularly the WKCOFIBYC’s comprehensive species list (CSL) was used as starting point. WKFIBRE suggested an update of the CSL by incorporating the most recent considerations by the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) and the inclusion of the Norwegian Red List for Species. WKFIBRE recommended removing and/or revising some of the criteria agreed by WKCOFIBYC, suggested one additional exclusion criterion (removal of species not present in a given ecoregion) and streamlined the overall process. In total, 9 criteria (6 exclusion and 3 inclusion criteria) are suggested by WKFIBRE. WKFIBRE proposes a process which starts from the CSL and applies a first set of species exclusion criteria for all ecoregions combined, followed by species exclusions by ecoregions, and species inclusions by ecoregion. This resulted in 12 ecoregion species lists (ESLs). The last element in the process is to apply expert judgement to finalise ecoregion bycatch lists (EBL). Future work should include a revision of the original CSL and its compilation, as well as the establishment of a process to update this list periodically. The CSL list compiled by WKCOFIBYC is already outdated and all resulting lists may not reflect the current status for ETP species of bycatch relevance.