European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: agreed records 2023

Jointly-managed stocks

11.1 The Delegations agreed, as an ad hoc approach for 2023, to consider cod, haddock, herring, plaice, saithe and whiting to be jointly managed stocks. Each Party’s share of each stock for 2023 is shown in Table 1.

11.2 The Delegations acknowledged that, although all Parties have introduced legislation that prohibits most forms of discarding of fish, discards remain a serious problem and may be contributing to the current poor condition of some stocks.

11.3 The Delegations agreed to work towards improving exploitation patterns and reducing unwanted catches and discards through the use of technical measures to improve the selectivity of fishing gear; closed seasons and areas; as well as any other appropriate measures. They acknowledged the usefulness of complementary technical measures to achieve those objectives.

11.4 The Delegations agreed to apply the inter-annual quota flexibility (IAF) scheme shown in Annex II. For 2023, the IAF scheme will apply to haddock, herring, plaice, saithe and whiting.

11.5 In light of the de minimis and high survivability exemptions contained in its landing obligation, the EU Delegation informed the UK Delegation and the Norwegian Delegation of its intention to continue in 2023 to adjust from the EU quotas the estimated amounts of the discards.

11.6 In light of the de minimis and high survivability exemptions contained in its landing obligation, the UK Delegation informed the EU Delegation and the Norwegian Delegation of its intention to continue in 2023 to adjust from the UK quotas the estimated amounts of the discards.