Whiting

Merlangius merlangus

5: Avoid How we work out the ratings

What to check for

Location

Celtic Seas (southern), English Channel (west)

Technical location

Atlantic, Northeast, Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea (North), Celtic Sea (South), English Channel (West), Porcupine Bank, Southwest of Ireland (East), Southwest of Ireland (West), West of Ireland

Caught by

Bottom trawl (otter)

Rating summary

The Celtic Sea whiting population is at dangerously low levels, and there is no plan in place to help it recover. Therefore, it is Fish to Avoid.Rating last updated November 2025.

Technical consultation summary

Default red rating: Celtic Sea whiting is below Blim, with zero catch advice. Spawning stock biomass (SSB) has fallen rapidly from 60,675 tonnes in 2015 to 9,496 tonnes in 2025. It has been below MSY Btrigger, 50,818t since 2016, and below safe biological limits (Blim, 36,571t) since 2017. It is therefore in a severely depleted state, with a high risk of reduced recruitment. There is no precautionary recovery plan in place. Management measures have not effectively protected the stock. The TAC does not match the stock area, and recent catches have been above recommended levels. Discarding of small fish is too high. Whiting is part of a mixed fishery with cod and haddock. ICES projects that if haddock is fished at Maximum Sustainable Yield, whiting catch in 2025 will be 4,878 tonnes. This is higher than the zero-catch recommendation. Most Celtic whiting is caught by otter trawls, which can cause damage to the seabed and may have bycatch of vulnerable species.

How we worked out this Rating

Celtic Sea whiting is below safe biological levels and there is no precautionary recovery plan in place. Therefore, it receives a critical fail for stock status and is a default red rating.Stock assessments are carried out by 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 2026The 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 applies its own definition of 1.4 x MSY BTrigger. Catches have declined from around 30,000 tonnes in 2004 to around 3,675t in 2024.The reproductive capacity of the stock - or spawning stock biomass (SSB) - has fallen rapidly from 61,580 tonnes in 2015 to 9,496 tonnes in 2025. It has been below MSY Btrigger (50,818t) since 2016, and below safe biological limits (Blim, 36,571t) since 2017. It is therefore in a severely depleted state, with a high risk of reduced recruitment, resulting in a critical fail.Catches are declining. In 2024, fishing mortality (F) was 0.53. Remaining above levels associated with maximum sustainable yield (FMSY, 0.375).ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, there should be zero catch in 2026. Advice for 2026 is zero catch because there is no fishing pressure senaerio that would being the stock above Blim in 2027 with at least 50% probability. Additionally, incoming recruitment remains low, and even with zero catch in 2026.Recruitment of young fish into the stock has been consistently low since 2014, with no signs of improvement.

References

Eigaard, O. R., Bastardie, F., Breen, M., Dinesen, G. E., Hintzen, N. T., Laffargue, P., Mortensen, L. O., Nielsen, J. R., Nilsson, H. C., O- Neill, F. G., Polet, H., Reid, D. G., Sala, A., Skold, M., Smith, C., Sorensen, T. K., Tully, O., Zengin, M. and Rijnsdorp, A. D., 2016. Estimating seabed pressure from demersal trawls, seines, and dredges based on gear design and dimensions. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73:1, pp. i27- i43. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsv099EU, 2013. Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy. amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council Decision 2004/585/EC. Available at https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/eur130290.pdf [Accessed on 14.11.2025].EU, 2019. Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02019R1241-20220806 [Accessed on 14.11.2025].EU, 2020. Regulation (EU) 2020/123 of 27 January 2020 fixing for 2020 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters. Available from: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32020R0123&from=EN [Accessed on 14.11.2025].Hiddink JG, Jennings S, Sciberras M, Szostek CL, Hughes KM, Ellis N, et al., 2017. Global analysis of depletion and recovery of seabed biota after bottom trawling disturbance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2017, 114 (31) 8301-8306; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1618858114.ICES, 2007. EU request on Trevose closure - ICES special request. Available at: https://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication Reports/Advice/2007/Special Requests/EC Trevose closure.pdf [Accessed on 14.11.2025].ICES, 2022. Celtic Seas Ecoregion – Ecosystem overview. In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2022. ICES Advice 2022, Section 7.1. Available at https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.21731615 [Accessed on 16.11.2023].ICES, 2022. EU standing request on catch scenarios for zero-TAC stocks; cod (Gadus morhua) in divisions 7.e–k (Celtic Sea). ICES Advice: Technical Services. Report. Available at https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.21456339.v1 [Accessed on 16.11.2023]ICES, 2023. EU/UK request on Celtic Sea Whiting TAC. ICES Advice: Technical Services. Report. Available at https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.22332715.v1 [Accessed on 16.11.2023.]ICES, 2024. Celtic Sea mixed fisheries considerations. In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2024. ICES Advice 2024. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.26763910 [Accessed on 14.11.2025].ICES, 2025. Celtic Sea mixed fisheries considerations. In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2025. ICES Advice 2025. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.30374749 [Accessed on 14.11.2025].ICES, 2025. Working Group for the Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE). ICES Scientific Reports. 7:52. 957pp. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.29401877 [Accessed on 14.11.2025].ICES, 2025. Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) in divisions 7.b-c and 7.e-k (southern Celtic Seas and eastern English Channel). In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2025. ICES Advice 2025, whg.27.7b-ce-k. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.27202950 [Accessed on 06.11.2025].JNCC, 2020. Marine Protected Area Mapper. Available at: https://jncc.gov.uk/mpa-mapper/[Accessed on 14.11.2025].Kynoch, R.J., Fryer, R.J., Neat, F.C., 2015. A simple technical measure to reduce bycatch and discard of skates and sharks in mixed-species bottom-trawl fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science, Volume 72, Issue 6, July/August 2015, Pages 1861–1868, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsv037NEAFC, 2011. Map of NEAFC Regulatory Area Showing Existing Fishing Areas and All Closures, North-east Atlantic fisheries commission. Available at: https://www.neafc.org/page/closures [Accessed on 14.11.2025].Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), 2021. Technical Measures in the Celtic Sea (STECF-21-18). Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, EUR. doi:10.2760/194488, JRC127710. Available at: https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/322051/4/STECF%2021-18%20-%20TM%20Celtic%20Sea.pdf [Accessed on 14.11.2025].Silva, F.J., Ellis, J.R., Catchpole, T.L., 2012. Species composition of skates (Rajidae) in commercial fisheries around the British Isles and their discarding patterns. 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