Impact of the December Fisheries Council on Fishing Opportunities for the
Northern Ireland Fishing Fleet in 2016
Fishing opportunities are made up the amount of fish the fleet can catch, the Total
Allowable Catch (TAC), and the amount of time the fleet can spend fishing, the
fishing effort. This paper summarises the main impacts on the Northern Ireland fleet
of the changes agreed at the December Fisheries Council held in Brussels 14-15
December 2015. It is based on provisional results that will be confirmed when the
2016 TAC and Quota Regulation is formally published in January 2016.
TACs and Quotas
This year’s Council was complicated by the introduction of the fish landing obligation
for some stocks. However the overall outcome for the Northern Ireland fishing
industry was good.
The provisional figures for the outcome are presented in Annexes A and B.
8% Increase in area Vll Nephrops TAC
Our main objective was achieved with a reversal of the original proposal for a 17%
cut in the basic TAC. Thanks to good co-operation between ourselves and Ireland
we were able to put forward sound scientific arguments that the basic TAC should
only reduce by 2%, in line with the scientific advice. To this figure a landing
obligation top-up of 10.2 % was applied, resulting in an overall increase of 8%.
The new EU TAC for 2016 is 23,348t of which the UK share is 7,659t. The UK share
is 567t higher than last year.
In 2016 any prawns caught by prawn trawlers that are above the minimum
conservation reference size will have to be landed. Pot caught prawns of any size
can still be returned to the sea.
40% increase in Irish Sea Haddock
The Commission had once again proposed significant cuts in this TAC (59%) due to
absence of a full scientific assessment. However we presented a convincing
scientific case that showed clearly that the stock was in good condition and the
biomass was increasing rapidly. This meant that we were able to secure a
significant increase in the basic TAC as well as an appropriate landing obligation topup.
The 2016 EU TAC is 1654t, of which the UK share is 793t. The UK share is 227t
higher than last year.
Any vessel whose catch of cod, haddock and whiting in 2013 and 2014 formed more
than 10% of its total landings will have to land any haddock they catch in 2016. This
will mainly apply to vessels that have targeted whitefish in the Irish Sea in those
years.
Cuts for Irish Sea cod, and sole
As expected Irish Sea cod and sole TACs were reduced as these stocks remain in a
depleted state. Cod is down another 20% in line with the Cod Recovery Plan, and
sole has been reduced by 56%. In addition sole may not be targeted and may only
be taken as a by-catch. Both species are only caught as by-catches by our fleet.
The UK TAC shares for cod and sole in 2016 are 42t and 10t respectively.
Other stocks
Irish Sea herring TAC was reduced by 6% in line with the scientific advice to keep
fishing at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) levels. The stock was accredited by
the Marine Stewardship Council in 2014 and one of the conditions of accreditation is
that it must be fished in line with MSY advice. The proposed cut was therefore
accepted. The UK share of the Irish Sea herring TAC is now 3384t a reduction of
206t
The Irish Sea whiting and plaice TACs are unchanged, with UK shares of 31t and
281t respectively. Both these stocks are caught as by-catches by our fleet.
Fishing Effort (Days at Sea)
Once again the Council unanimously agreed that there should be no change in
fishing effort allocations for the Irish Sea.
For our fleet this means that in 2016 the effort available to the Nephrops fleet will be
unchanged and the same amount of whitefish effort will be available for transfer to
the Nephrops fleet.
More Information
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/mare/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=27996&lang=en
Figures will remain provisional until the Council Regulation is officially published in
the European Journal. This can be expected in mid-January 2016.
DARD 16 December 2015