Scampi or langoustine

In the southwest and southeast of Ireland, scampi, often referred to as Nephrops or Norway lobster, is data limited. There is concern for the biomass but currently no concern for fishing pressure.Route 2 (data limited) scoring has been applied to this rating owing to the lack of reference points for biomass. Nephrops are considered to have a medium resilience to fishing pressure.Stock assessments are carried out annually by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The most recent assessment was published in 2025 using data up to 2025. The next assessment is expected in 2026.The stock assessment defines reference points for fishing pressure (F) and biomass (B). For fishing pressure, there is a target to keep F at or below Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). For biomass, there is no target. However, there is a trigger point (MSY BTrigger). Below this level, F should be reduced to allow the stock to increase. Because BMSY is not defined, the Good Fish Guide (GFG) applies its own definition of 1.4 x MSY BTrigger.In 2025, stock abundance is estimated at 260 million individuals, up from a low of 220 million in 2023 and 176 million in 2018. Despite this improvement, the stock remains below the target level (MSY BTrigger: 430 million). No lowest safe limit (Blim) has been defined, so the extent of depletion cannot be assessed. As a result, a data-limited scoring approach is applied, and there is concern for biomass.The total catch in 2024 was 359 tonnes. This is equivalent to a harvest rate of 4.6% of the population (by number). It is below the level associated with Maximum Sustainable Yield (FMSY, 9.3%), indicating that the stock is not subject to overfishing. Therefore, there is no concern for the fishing pressure.ICES advises that when the EU multiannual plan (MAP) for Western Waters and adjacent waters is applied, catches in 2026 should be between 317 and 357 tonnes. This assumes that discard rates and fishery patterns won't change from recent years. This is a 17.6% decrease from the previous year's advice, because of the lower estimated stock abundance.Estimates for abundance are considered accurate, but estimates for harvest rates are affected by uncertainty over weight estimates and the highly variable discard rates. This FU consists of a number of discrete patches of Nephrops, and population dynamics between the patches are not well understood.A 2011 study on Norway lobster in the Clyde found a high prevalence of plastics and suggested that this could have implications for the health of the stock - this may have relevance for other Norway lobster stocks. Some of the plastics were sourced to fishing waste. Studies have shown that the effects of climate change - warmer waters, reduced oxygen levels, higher ocean acidity, and higher levels of heavy metals - can negatively impact Norway lobsters' larval development and make adults more susceptible to disease. Lower oxygen levels can also cause Norway lobster to leave their burrows, making them easier to catch.

Some management measures are in place for Norway lobster in the southwest and southeast of Ireland. Catch limits don't match the stock area, meaning there is a risk of overfishing, but current catches are exceeding recommended limits.Norway lobster stock assessments are conducted by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Stock assessments are produced for 33 areas across the Northeast Atlantic, called Functional Units (FUs). However, management is applied to 18 areas, called management units. These management units broadly overlap with the functional units, but not very effectively. Vessels are free to move between grounds, allowing relatively uncontrolled fishing on some stocks, and risking overfishing. Scientists have repeatedly advised over the years that management should be implemented at the functional unit level, to better protect Norway lobster. This would result in fishing controls that respond to changes within individual stocks. This advice is not being followed.This stock is mainly fished by Ireland, and managed through the EU's Western Waters Multi Annual management Plan (MAP). This MAP covers eighteen FUs, including 11-17 and 19-22. It provides guidance on setting catch limits, and FU-specific management measures can be introduced if individual stocks are found to be below sustainable levels. This stock is in an overfished state, but there are no FU-specific management measures.Catch limits (Total Allowable Catches, TACs) are in place; however, they are not specific to this Norway lobster stock. A single TAC applies to the entire Celtic Seas region (ICES Subarea 7), which includes eight different stocks. This broad approach does not ensure protection against overfishing for individual stocks. Total catches in the southwest and southeast of Ireland were within recommended limits from 2020 - 2022, averaging 79% of the advice. However, catches exceeded advice by 19% in 2023 and by 45% in 2024. This indicates that catches are not consistently aligned with the recommended advice. In 2019, the advice was much smaller than usual but catches remained constant, resulting in the total catch being double the recommended maximum. The advice increased again in 2020 and 2021, but began decreasing again in 2022.In recent years, several newer vessels specializing in Norway lobster fishing have participated in this fishery. These vessels target Nephrops on several other grounds in the area, and move around to optimize catch rates. There are concerns that limits on catch or effort in other FUs could displace effort into this one.There is a Minimum Conservation Reference Size of 25mm in the Celtic Seas. Under the EU Landings Obligation (LO) and UK law, it is illegal to discard unwanted (e.g. undersized or over-quota) Norway lobster at sea. However, there are exemptions in this area, because this species survives well after being discarded, even from trawlers. Discarding is still allowed in all creel fisheries and up to 5% can be discarded from trawlers. Compliance with the LO is poor throughout European fisheries. In this fishery, discarding is very high, ranging between 25% and 86% of the total catch by weight. On average, 31% was discarded between 2020 and 2024.The EU and UK both have fishery management measures, which can include catch limits, population targets, and gear restrictions. However, compliance in the EU and UK has been inconsistent, with ongoing challenges in implementing some regulations. The goal of reaching Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2020 was missed, with less than half of UK TACs in 2024 following ICES advice. In 2024, the EU and UK reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable fisheries by aligning management with scientific advice to gradually approach MSY. However, no new target date has been set for achieving MSY across all fisheries. The Landing Obligation (LO), an EU law retained by the UK post-Brexit, requires all quota fish to be landed, even if unwanted (over-quota or below minimum size). It aims to encourage more selective fishing methods, reduce bycatch, and improve catch reporting. However, compliance is poor, and accurate discard levels are hard to quantify with current monitoring programmes. The UK is in the process of replacing the LO with country-specific Catching Policies.

Trawling for Norway lobster can have an impact on seabed habitats, particularly on mud which is subjected to high disturbance by fishing. In this area, bycatch of Celtic Sea cod could be of concern.All Norway lobster in the southwest and southeast of Ireland is caught by trawlers. This fishery has a significant bycatch of Celtic Sea cod, a stock that is severely depleted and subject to a zero-catch recommendation. Approximately 55% of Norway lobster catches come from whitefish trawlers, while around 20% are from dedicated Norway lobster trawlers. Most fishing occurs in Celtic Sea North (Subdivision 7g), which includes three key grounds: Ireland’s southwest and southeast coasts, Labadie–Jones–Cockburn, and The Smalls. Consequently, all three fisheries likely contribute to cod overexploitation.The Ireland SW and SE coast fishery also overlaps with the Irish Sea cod stock, which is also depleted, but the majority of Irish cod catches are from further north in the Irish Sea. It does not overlap with the severely depleted Irish Sea whiting stock.Other bycatch in this area can include megrim, anglerfish and hake. This is an important nursery area for juvenile hake and anglerfish, among other species. There may also be bycatch of skates, rays and sharks, including spurdog, which is endangered in Europe. These species are relatively hardy, and can survive when they are discarded, but their survival rates largely depend on how they were caught and handled. Mortality rates in otter trawls are shown to vary between 10-65%, depending on fishing and handling methods. Those vessels which employ codes of conduct on skate and ray handling and/or reduce the risk of their capture, will improve their survival rates, though many of these methods aren't implemented over whole functional unit or regional levels.To reduce bycatch, there are requirements to use selective gear (e.g. square-meshed panels of 120mm, or sorting grids) to allow unwanted catch to escape the nets. Seasonal closures in parts of the Bristol Channel and Celtic Sea North (7f and 7g) during February and March aim to protect spawning cod. Around 55% of Irish vessels use separator trawls, while 45% employ Swedish grids.Norway lobster are mainly found in soft mud, and therefore trawling for this species takes place primarily on mud habitats. These habitats are listed by OSPAR as threatened and declining due to their burrowing megafauna, which create complex structures and deep oxygen penetration. Species in these habitats include long-lived ocean quahog, polychaete worms, soft corals, and tall sea pens. Fishing causes severe disturbance in mud habitats: a 2023 OSPAR report found that 87% of offshore circalittoral mud has experienced high disturbance, indicating inadequate protection. Prolonged trawling is likely to affect the structure, species composition, and biodiversity of the burrowed mud community.Parts of the southwest and southeast of Ireland functional unit overlap with some Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), some of which are designated to protect seabed features from damaging activities. The proportion of the catch coming from these areas is expected to be relatively low in relation to the unit of assessment (i.e. less than 20% of the catch), and so these impacts have not been assessed within the scale of this rating. Given the important role that Marine Protected Areas (including MCZs) have in recovering the health and function of our seas, Marine Conservation Society encourages the supply chain to identify if their specific sources are being caught from within MPAs. If sources are suspected of coming from within designated and managed MPAs, Marine Conservation Society advises businesses to establish if the fishing activity is operating legally inside a designated and managed MPA, and to request evidence from the fishery or managing authority to demonstrate that the activity is not damaging to protected features or a threat to the conservation objectives of the site(s).

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