Fisheries
Evaluate the stock status against the three GES criteria mentioned in EC Decision
Criterion 3.1 relates to fishing pressure and states that "achieving or maintaining good environmental status requires that fishing mortality rates (F) are equal to or lower than those that produce MSY (FMSY)". |
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Criterion 3.2 relates to the reproductive capacity of the stock and the EC Decision (EU, 2010) states that "any observed SSB value equal to or greater than the SSB that produces MSY (SSBMSY) is considered to meet this criterion". |
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Relies on the concept of a healthy size/age structure of the stocks, and it is not essential to assess the exploitation status of resources in terms of pressure (F) and status (SSB). However, it provides the ability to track biological improvements in stock development, although possibly with a time delay, as MSY-based management is achieved, and has also utility where stock status and exploitation rate information are unavailable. There isn't yet an agreement about a valid indicator across stocks and functional groups and no reference levels agreed. Therefore, no assessment with respect to Criterion 3.3 has been considered. |