Whiting

Whiting in the Irish Sea is below safe biological levels and there are no measures or plans in place to help it recover. Therefore, it receives a critical fail for stock status and is a default red rating.This stock assessment is carried out biennially by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The most recent assessment was published in 2023 using data up to 2023. The next assessment is expected in 2025.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 applies its own definition of 1.4 x MSY BTrigger.The Irish Sea whiting stock has been declining since the early 1980s, when the spawning stock biomass (SSB) was over 20,000 tonnes. It reached an all-time low of 530 tonnes in the mid-2000s, and has been at dangerously low levels since. In 2023 it is 1,517 tonnes - far below the level at which reproduction is impaired (Blim, 10,000t). The target biomass (MSY BTrigger) is 16,300t, putting current stock size at just 9% of sustainable levels. The stock is therefore in a very overfished state, outside safe biological limits, and suffering reduced reproductive capacity.Since 1980, fishing mortality (F) has been above levels associated with Maximum Sustainable Yield (FMSY, 0.22) and upper limits (Flim 0.37). In 2022 it was 0.50. Irish Sea whiting is therefore subject to overfishing.ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, there should be zero catches in each of the years 2024 and 2025. This is because there is no scenario in which the stock can return to above Blim over the next two years. Zero catch has been advised since 2001. Over that time catches have not significantly reduced. A zero catch in 2024-2025 would allow the stock to increase by 93%, but maintaining the fishing pressure at recent levels is projected to cause it to decline by 8.5%.

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