SAITHE Pollachius virens

Advice 2024/2025

66 705

tonnes

Advice 2023/2024

66 533

tonnes

Advice changes

0 %

Publication of Advice: 7 June 2024. Published by Marine and Freshwater Institute.


Advice

MFRI and ICES advise that when the Icelandic management plan is applied, catches in the fishing year 2024/2025 should be no more than 66 705 tonnes.

Stock development

Fishing pressure is below HRMGT, HRMSY, HRpa, and HRlim. Spawning stock size is above MSY Btrigger, Bpa, and Blim.

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Thous. tonnes B o t t o m t r a w l G i l l n e t s O t h e r a n d u n d e f i n e d g e a r Catches 0 25 50 75 100 125 1981 1991 2001 2011 2021 Millions R e c r u i t m e n t ( a g e 3 ) H R M G T H R M S Y H R l i m H R p a 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Harvest rate B t r i g g e r B p a B l i m 0 100 200 300 400 500 1981 1991 2001 2011 2021 Thous. tonnes R e f e r e n c e b i o m a s s S S B Biomass

Saithe. Catch by gear type, recruitment, harvest rate based on reference stock biomass, reference stock biomass (4 years and older) and spawning stock biomass (SSB). Shaded areas and error bars show 95% confidence intervals.

Basis of the assessment and Reference points

Prospects

Saithe. Assumptions made for the interim year and in the forecast.

Saithe. Projection of reference biomass and SSB (tonnes) based on adopted harvest control rule.

Quality of the assessment

The combination of uncertain survey indices and time-varying fleet selectivity can lead to periods where retrospective stock size revisions are large.

H R M G T H R M S Y H R p a H R l i m B p a B l i m B t r i g g e r R e f e r e n c e b i o m a s s S S B H a r v e s t r a t e R e c r u i t m e n t 2012 2016 2020 2024 2012 2016 2020 2024 2012 2016 2020 2024 2012 2016 2020 2024 0 25 50 75 100 0 50 100 150 200 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0 100 200 300 400

Saithe Current assessment (red line) compared with previous estimates (2020–2023).

Other information

The trend for the last five years has been overestimation of the reference biomass, caused by high survey indices in 2018 followed by a substantial decrease from 2019–2022. The evaluation of the management plan incorporated uncertainties of this nature and of a similar magnitude (ICES, 2019). The catch has been less than the TAC since 2013. Part of the unused TAC has been used to fish for other species, under the Icelandic quota management system which allows limited transfer between species. This may, however, be contributing to the advice and TACs being exceeded for some species.

Advice, TAC and catch

Saithe. Recommended TAC, national TAC, and catches (tonnes).

References and further reading

ICES. 2019. Workshop on the benchmark assessment and management plan evaluation for Icelandic haddock and saithe (WKICEMSE). ICES Scientific Reports. 1:10. 107 pp. http://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.5091

MFRI Assessment Reports 2024. Saithe. Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, 7 June 2024