There are management measures in place for this fishery, which are precautionary and effective in managing the stock. This fishery is independently certified to the MSC standard with no conditions to meet the certification.The Cantabrian Sea Purse Seine Anchovy Fishery is certified as a responsibly managed fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and became the first anchovy fishery in Europe to achieve MSC certification in 2015. There are no conditions the fishery must meet to maintain certification. However, the most recent certification report flags concerns that observer data is not available, interactions with vulnerable species are not consistently recorded, data for certain fleets is not available and that the management plan, although implemented, has not been adopted formally.An EU management strategy is in place for this stock. A set of harvest control rules were evaluated by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries in 2013 and 2014. The European Commission requested that ICES provided its advice in 2015 according to one of these rules, and according to a different one since 2016. ICES considers the harvest control rule selected in 2016 to be precautionary, with a 5% probability of the spawning-stock biomass falling below the limit biomass reference point (Blim) in the long-term.The fisheries targeting the Bay of Biscay anchovy are managed through Total Allowable Catch (TAC) set following the harvest control rule adopted in 2016, and technical measures such as gear and vessels specifications, a minimum conservation reference size, closed areas and seasons.The fishery closed between July 2005 and June 2010 due to very low stock abundance. Since the reopening of the fishery, catches have been increasing overall whilst following scientific advice and the TAC has been effectively implemented.TAC has been in line with that advised by scientists in recent years (2015-21). Except in 2016, initially in accordance with advice and later raised 32% above advised limits. Compliance to the TAC has been high. Actual landings are generally lower than the TAC agreed, last exceeding TAC in 2015 by 13%. In accordance with the management strategy, TAC is set to zero if spawning-stock biomass (SSB) is below the lower trigger, and to 33,000 tonnes if SSB is above the upper trigger. The TAC cap becomes effective if the projected SSB is 89,000 tonnes or larger, which resulted in advised catches for 2022 being capped at the highest level allowed under the management strategy, despite the high SSB.Discarding is considered negligible.European anchovy inhabiting the Atlantic waters were separated into two distinct stock units; one distributed in the Bay of Biscay, in ICES area 8, which this rating covers and the other distributed in Atlantic Iberian waters, ICES area 9a (Spanish Southern Galicia, Portuguese coast and Spanish waters of the Gulf of Cadiz), which is captured in a separate ICES assessment and MCS rating. The anchovy stock covered in this assessment are caught to a small extent in ICES subarea 7 which should be considered in fisheries management, although this accounts for less than 2% of catches of the stock.Both the EU and UK have fishery management measures in place, which can include catch limits, targets for population sizes and fishing mortality, and controls on what fishing gear can be used and where. In the EU, compliance with regulations has been variable, and there are ongoing challenges with implementing some of them. There was a target for fishing to be at Maximum Sustainable Yield by 2020, but this was not achieved. The Landing Obligation (LO), an EU law that the UK has kept after Brexit, requires all quota fish to be landed, even if they are unwanted (over-quota or below minimum size). It aims to promote more selective fishing methods, reduce bycatch, and improve recording of everything that is caught, not just what is wanted. Compliance with the LO is generally poor and actual levels of discards are difficult to quantify using the current fisheries observer programme. UK administrations are in the process of replacing the landing obligation with country-specific Catching Policies.In the UK, it is too early to tell how effective management is, as the Fisheries Act only came into force in January 2021. The Act requires the development of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) (replacing EU Multi-Annual Plans). FMPs are currently in development, but the scope of them remains unclear. They have the potential to be very important tools for managing UK fisheries, although data limitations may delay them for some stocks. MCS is keen to see publicly available FMPs for all commercially exploited stocks, especially where stocks are depleted, that include:Targets for fishing pressure and biomass, and additional management when those targets are not being met, based on the best available scientific evidenceTimeframes for stock recoveryImproved data collection, transparency and accountability, supported by technologies such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM)Consideration of wider environmental impacts of the fishery
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
