Ref. Ares(2018)3458869 - 29/06/2018
Ref. Ares(2019)2387732 - 04/04/2019
Notification to choke species analyses
The respective Annex IV may be interpreted as a further development of the so-called mitigation tool
as it is meant to support the same intention, i.e. a structured review and overview of obvious choke
situations in mixed demersal fisheries in relation to the introduction of the landing obligation as
outlined in the basic Reg. (EU) No 1380/2013). The presented information shall support potential
mitigation strategies, and in no way the tables shall be used for any control and enforcement as it
contains scientifically assessed catch (Table Annex IVa) and discard volumes (Table Annex IVb) in
units of tonnes (t) based on various assumptions, as outlined by STECF’s fishery dependent
information (
FDI, https://stecf.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dd/effort).
First, 39 demersal management units (MUs) with relevance to the management area of the Regional
Scheveningen Management Group, i.e. by species (FAO alpha code) and the Kattegat 3AS, the
Skagerrak 3AN and the North Sea (4) including 2A Union waters in most of the cases. The two tables
compile for each of the 39 management units the catch opportunities by Member States in 2016 as
specified in Reg. (EU) 2016/72, Reg. (EU) 2016/1252 and (EU) 1367/2014 for deep sea fish stocks.
MUs of spiny dogfish DGS and the joint MU of dab DAB and European founder FLE are omitted as
their TACs and quotas are not considered for TAC and quotas anymore. The latest version of tables
listing quotas, catches and discards by fishery comprise three small pelagic species and one industrial
stpecies, i.e. stocks two herring stocks managed by fife units, one mackerel and one horse mackerel
stock as well as the stock of Norway pout.
The 46 MUs comprise 35 species or groups thereof. Tables IVa and IVb list 2016 catch and discard
estimates by management unit, Member State and fisheries as defined by the Regional Scheveningen
Management Group to achieve a stepwise introduction of the landing obligation by fisheries since
2015. The annexed Tables IVa and IVb are preliminary and subject to a review by the delegations, in
particular in relation to the data coverage indication provided by STECF.
Data coverage and aggregation process:
The listed catch opportunities (quotas) by management unit and Member State include specific
allowances in Norwegian waters, where applicable. Such instances are indicated as ‘-N’ at the end of
the management unit’s label (second column in Tables IVa and IVb).
Catch estimates are aggregated (added) over species and groups thereof, if a management unit
covers multiple species or groups.
Catch and discard estimates in the North Sea (4) include estimates from both management areas 2A
Union waters and 4. This implies overestimation where individual management units cover the North
Sea only and omit the area 2A Union waters.
Where the management areas of the individual management units cover adjacent areas to those
relevant to the Regional Scheveningen Group, e.g. Baltic Sea or West of Scotland, catch and discard
estimates include only the management areas of the Regional Scheveningen Group. In such cases,
the analyses of the specific choke situation is incomplete and requires further consideration of catch
estimates of adjacent management areas.
The fifth data field called ‘FORMAT‘ separates the quotas into those based on individual species
(single) or multiple species TACs. The fourth column identifies the ‘TAC BASIS’ of the quotas as being
either analytical or precautionary.
Catch and discard estimates are aggregated (added) over all fisheries in the column called
‘SUM_CATCH’ and ‘SUM_DISC’ in the Tables IVa and IVb, respectively. Note that the listed quotas
and linked catch estimates by country and gear as well as discard estimates represent only cases,
where a quota including zero quotas is allocated to a member state while catch and discards are not
listed if a member state does not hold a quota at all! Furhermore, 0 discard estimates may also
represent ‘no data’ situations.
The column called ‘QUOTIENT’ in Table IVa represents the ratio of estimated catches (CATCH_SUM)
over the QUTOA and indicates where choke situations are apparent (>1).
Note that the field ‘QUOTIENT’ in Table IVa should be interpreted with care for the three small
pelagic species, as management areas and their quotas extend to areas far beyond the Skagerrak,
Kattegat and the North Sea or refer to parts of such areas. There is also large scale quota swapping
from adjacent areas granted.
The sheet ‘Evaluation demersals only’ provides meta data regarding number of chokes and fisheries
by Member State. These evaluations are kept unchanged as they refer to demersal stocks and
fisheries only and ignore the update with the small pelagics and one industrial stock.
Data corrections: WHG/2AC4 Quota for NLD of 675 t is appended.