| Summary: | Contributors: Svein A. Iversen, Dankert W. Skagen The Working Group on the Assessment of Mackerel, Horse Mackerel, Sardine and Anchovy (WGMHSA) met in Vigo from 5-16 September, to assess and provide catch options for four different pelagic species widely distributed in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. The WG reports on the status of all 7 stocks (see Fig. 0.1 for stock definitions), and in case of Sardine also on the status of the species distributed outside current stock definitions. This year a benchmark analytical assessment is available for Anchovy in Biscay and update analytical assessments are available for Northeast-Atlantic Mackerel and Sardine in VIIIc and IXa. Western Horse mackerel is in a benchmark year, so an in-depth exploratory analysis was carried out using several models (with different assumptions) as well as exploring the signals in the input data. Southern horse mackerel and Gulf of Cadiz anchovy assessments are still in a developmental stage, whilst no assessment was possible for North Sea horse mackerel. Northeast-Atlantic (NEA) Mackerel. This species is distributed in the whole ICES area and currently supports one of the most valuable European fisheries (with more than 600 kt annual landings). Mackerel is fished by a variety of fleets (ranging from open boats using hand lines on the Iberian coasts to large freezer trawlers and Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) vessels in the Northern Area. The stock is historically divided into three components, with the North Sea component considered to be over fished since the late 1970s, and the Western component contributing the vast majority of biomass and catch to the combined stock. The quality of sampling data remains good. There is an extensive exploration section examining the trade offs in assessing the NEA mackerel stock with the available data and model formulations. This year the issue of accuracy of the catch data has been addressed, and indicates that data on both the accuracy of landings and estimates of total discards is inadequate. The WG ...
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