European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: agreed records 2025

15 Cod

15.1 The Delegations noted ICES advise that, when the MSY approach is applied for the Southern sub-stock and precautionary considerations to protect the Southern sub-stock are applied to the Northwestern and Viking sub-stocks, the TAC for Northern Shelf cod should be no more than 15,511 tonnes for 2025.

15.2 The Delegations noted the difficulties of translating that advice into the four TAC management areas, because ICES state that the sub-stock advice cannot be considered an area-based advice due to unknown levels of mixing between the sub-stocks.

15.3 The Delegations noted that ICES estimates that discards and BMS landings are at 23.7% of total catch (by weight) in 2023. ICES projects a discards rate of 16.4% of total catch (by weight) in 2024.  

15.4 Noting this ICES advice, the delegations discussed the wide variety of management measures already in place or which otherwise require implementation in order to manage the stock.

15.5 First, the Delegations agreed that the quota allocation to Division 6.a should continue to be determined in this trilateral forum, as was the case in 2024, noting that 6.a forms part of the Northern Shelf cod advice.

15.6 Second, the Delegations recalled that in the Agreed Record for 2024 they agreed that they would seek to devise a methodology that better aligns ICES sub-stock based advice with effective TAC area management. They also recalled that they had requested ICES to move towards, to the extent possible, providing area-specific catch advice for Northern Shelf cod.

15.7 In relation to this objective, the Delegations welcomed the presentation of the GenDC project by DTU Aqua, which aims to develop standardised genetic sampling protocols and procedures to enhance data integration with stock assessments and existing databases for Northern Shelf cod as well as for other stocks. The project will support the work under the joint request to ICES on genetic and other data that can help ICES move towards providing area-specific catch advice for Northern Shelf cod.

15.8 Third, the Delegations recalled that they had established a Working Group of experts from each party, chaired by UK, to provide an overview of current spatial, seasonal and technical measures that promotes the sustainable management of the Northern Shelf stock. The Delegations agreed that the work should be conducted at pace and that the Working Group should report back to the Parties in February 2025 on points 1 and 2 of the Terms of Reference outlined in Annex VI. Furthermore, it was agreed that the next steps, including work on points 3 to 5 of the Terms of Reference and on possible improvements or modifications to relevant measures, will be considered and confirmed by the Parties after receiving the report mentioned above.

15.9 Fourth, the Delegations agreed with respect to their work on monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) on the importance of continuing to promote a culture of compliance within their respective fisheries, and that future work on MCS should have a particular focus on cod-related fisheries.

15.10 Fifth, to continue to support ongoing improvements in the sustainable management of the stock, the Delegations agreed to continue the closures of spawning grounds as described in Annex III. 

15.11 Furthermore, the Norwegian Delegation informed the EU and UK Delegations that three areas had been closed in the southeastern part of the Norwegian Economic Zone (NEZ) from 1 July to 31 December 2024 in order to protect juveniles and small cod. The measure will be evaluated before a decision to continue such closures in 2025 is taken. In addition to the closure of nursery areas, the Norwegian Delegation informed that Real Time Closures can be triggered in the demersal trawl and Danish seine fishery in the NEZ, if the intermixture of juvenile cod, saithe, haddock, and whiting exceeds a certain limit. They also explained that if the intermixture of juveniles (including cod) is above the legal limit, vessels are obligated to change fishing ground.  

15.12 The UK Delegation informed the EU and Norwegian Delegations that a National Cod Avoidance Plan was still active in UK waters. The plan continues to cover a variety of measures in different areas of UK waters of the North Sea. The measures include restrictions on mesh size on nets, alongside real-time closures and real-time reporting to protect high abundances of cod of all ages. These are in addition to existing seasonal closures in UK waters for the protection of spawning aggregations of cod. 

15.13 The UK informed the Norwegian and EU Delegations that, as an additional measure to extend restrictions on catches of cod in the 7.d management area, the UK’s quota for this area would be set as bycatch only.

15.14 The EU Delegation informed the UK and Norwegian Delegations that it intends to continue in 2025 the cod avoidance measures introduced in 2020 and 2021. These measures include specific selectivity measures, area closures for protection of spawning aggregations of cod as well as the possibility for member states to introduce National Cod Avoidance Plans. Such plans will be assessed by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries. In addition, the EU explained that specific actions on control have been undertaken since 2020 including additional efforts on last haul evaluations and the triggering of real time closures and the procedures for the monitoring of these closures.

15.15 The Delegations agreed that their intention is to set fishing opportunities consistent with the ICES MSY approach, aiming to reduce overall fishing pressure, increase the SSB across the sub-stocks, and enhance the protection of the Southern sub-stock. The Delegations further noted the importance of the stock within the mixed fishery (taking into account fishing patterns and the interdependence of stocks) and the necessity of avoiding a choke effect that would lead to the premature closure of other demersal fisheries, and/or increased unreported discarding.

15.16 Noting the measures set out above which aim to bring about sustainable management of the stock, and following considerations of the scenarios provided for each sub-stock, the Delegations agreed to set a TAC for the whole Northern Shelf cod stock of 25,028 tonnes. This figure reflects the headline advice for the Southern sub-stock, and the ICES FMSY scenarios for the Northwestern and Viking sub-stocks. This means that the TAC for Division 6.a should be 1,114 tonnes, the TAC for Subarea 4 19,910 tonnes, the TAC for Skagerrak (Subdivision 20) 2,846 tonnes, and the TAC for Division 7.d 1,158 tonnes.