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Downs herring

Main characteristics and peculiarities
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Assessment Summary
year	2000 (WG 2001)
type	assessed within the North Sea Autumn Spawner assessment
assessment quality	no separate assessment, NSAS assessment good
main problems	(1) separation between NSAS and Downs herring (component) currently impossible (on a commercial fishery scale) (2) serious amount of misreported (into IVa and b (North Sea)) and unallocated catches, leading to a TAC exceeding of more than 100% in that area (3) limited biological information available
fisheries independent information	(1) larval survey in September and January [(2) int'l bottom trawl survey in 1st and 3rd quarter as general recruitment index for the whole North Sea stock]
catch	44'000 t (1999: 54'000 t)
spawning stock biomass	not separately determined, see North Sea Autumn Spawners
fishing mortality	not separately determined, see North Sea Autumn Spawners
reference points	not defined
state of the stock	outside safe biological limits, as F(adults) for the whole North Sea Autumn Spawning stock is too high, and F on the Downs component is believed to be even higher
perspective	uncertain: while the North Sea Stock is recovering, the Downs component might be threatened due to significant TAC exceeding

Stock parameters (under construction)

Distribution
Downs herring is believed to be distributed in ICES Area IVc (Southern North Sea) and VIId (Eastern Channel.

Management advice
Total allowable catches for 2002 should be kept constant (25'000 t). However, immediate measures should be taken to avoid TAC exceeding.

Source
ICES Working Group for the assessment of Herring South of 62°N 2000, ICES CM 2000/ACFM:10, and 2001, ICES CM 2001/ACFM:12

Data entered/updated by (Date)
Christopher Zimmermann (01-07-00/21-06-01)

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