On 31 May, ICES’ Advisory Committee (ACOM) published their advice regarding the exploitation of the Baltic Sea fish stocks for 2013. The attachment provides a summary and comment from FISH on the assessments and advice.
ICES has advised cuts to both cod stocks. Most notably, an 11% decrease for the larger, Eastern stock. This is because the increase in the size of the stock last year was less than had been expected and so a downward revision of the stock has taken place.
The advice from ICES, along with input from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), will provide the basis for the Commission proposals on Baltic Total Allowable Catches (TACs). The Commission’s advice should be published in the coming weeks. Council will then likely set the 2013 fishing opportunities for the Baltic in October.