This stock is being assessed separately from autumn spawning herring in Northwest and West of Ireland from 2022. Stock information and management measures have not been in place long enough to be assessed for the separated stocks. Although they exceeded advice, catch limits for this fishery appear to have been effective at improving stock status.There is no precautionary management plan or recovery plan in place for for autumn spawning, West of Scotland, herring in this area. The spawning stock biomass started increasing in 2019 following historically low levels between 2016-2019. This corresponds with decline in harvest rate which has been consistently below Fmsy since 2017. In recent years only catches for scientific monitoring were allowed reducing fishing pressure. This stock has only been separated from stocks in the wider area for stock assessments in 2022 so effectiveness of management of the stock cannot be assessed yet. ICES advises that when the precautionary approach is applied, catches in 2023 should be no more than 1892 tonnes. However, no total allowable catch (TAC) has been set for this stock area. The catches in 2020 and 2021 were considerably lower than the monitoring TAC, but this was due to a change in the management measures that prevented the use of the monitoring TAC in 6.a North. As a result, sampling levels are low for these years.In 2022 two herring stocks in this area (herring in Division 6a North and herring in Divisions 6a South and 7b-c) that had previously been assessed as one were segregated into two for the stock assessment. The development of a genetic method to split the summer acoustic survey (MSHAS) into the component stocks means that separate advice is now possible. The information presented here represents autumn-spawning herring in Division 6.a North. Spring-spawning herring in this area are currently not assessed, although historical estimates of catches in 6.a North will include fish from other populations. This is a mismatch with the survey index, which has been genetically split from 2014–present. Catches are still apportioned geographically (north of 56°N). Genetic sampling to split the commercial catches is required, particularly as the stocks recover and fishing expands.Discards are considered negligible.Scientific advice is to avoid negative impacts on the spawning habitat of herring, unless the effects of these activities have been assessed and shown not to be detrimental to the stock. There has been an increase in marine anthropogenic activity, especially in the area of marine renewables. The construction and development of wind farms, for example, results in disturbance to the seabed, as does aggregate extraction. Gravel is an essential habitat for spawning herring.Beyond the advised TAC, harvesting of herring is controlled through an EU Minimum Landing Size (MLS) of 20cm which is above herring size at maturity of around 17cm.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
