European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: agreed records 2025
Agreed records of consultations from meetings of delegations from the United Kingdom, Norway and the European Union, held in November 2024 on the joint management of shared North Sea stocks.
20 Whiting
20.1 The Delegations noted that according to the ICES MSY approach catches in 2025 should be no more than 188,148 tonnes. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the advice for 2024. ICES estimates that discards and BMS landings are at 33.2% of total catch (by weight) in 2023, and ICES projects discard rates of 25.8% of total catch (by weight) in 2024.
20.2 The Delegations acknowledged the increasing divergence between actual catch levels and the potential catch levels advised by ICES. They agreed, nonetheless, to exercise caution by setting the TAC in line with the FMSY lower scenario as provided in the catch options table of the ICES advice. This resulted in a TAC for 2025 in ICES Subarea 4 (North Sea) and Division 7.d (Eastern Channel) of 139,425 tonnes. This is an increase of 46% compared to the TAC for 2024.
20.3 The Delegations also noted the methodology for the split of whiting TACs between the ICES Subarea 4 and Division 7.d set out in the Agreed Record for 2023 and agreed to apply that methodology again with respect to their quotas for 2025. Taking into account that methodology, they agreed that the resulting TAC for Subarea 4 is 111,861 tonnes (80.23%), and the TAC for Division 7.d is 27,564 tonnes (19.77%).
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