For 2011, the advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) once more underlines the poor state of many fish resources where Irish Fishermen have an interest.
However it is not all bad news, improvements are evident on for some stocks such as, Celtic Sea cod and haddock. Generally, the state of fish stocks in European waters is improving. The proportion of over fished stocks in the Atlantic and nearby seas fell from 32 out of 34 stocks in 2004 to 22 out of 35 stocks in 2010, i.e. from 94% to 63%. This demonstrates that determined action does make a difference.
The eventual and incremental move to MSY should also bring significant benefits, and will mean a change from fishing intensively on scarce resources to fishing lightly on larger stocks. Phasing out over fishing will undoubtedly improve the state of resources and lower the impact on the environment. It will also improve the economic profitability of the catching sector
That said, many stocks in the west of Scotland, Irish Sea and Celtic Sea are still over fished and stock sizes are small. Eight stocks are so depleted that, according to scientific advice, they should not be caught. Of 14 stocks where MSY assessments could be made, eight stocks were found to be overfished.
The Long term management plan for Cod in existence since February 2009 has not to date had the desired effect with the Commission proposing a zero TAC for Cod in the Irish Sea and in the West of Scotland.