Overexploited with low fishing mortality.
[The GFCM methodology to provide stock status and management advice is described in the Appendix F of the Sixteenth Session of the Scientific Advisory Committee Report. See the Bibliography section.]

Stock assessment in the GFCM area of application is often conducted by management units, based on GSAs. This method does not ensure that the whole stock is assessed, since stocks may cover several different management units. In some cases, when there is scientific evidence of a stock spreading through different GSAs, as well as information on species from different GSAs, existing information is combined across GSAs. This is then defined as a “joint stock assessment of a shared stock”. The GFCM recommends that when scientific evidence of shared stocks exists, joint stock assessments should be attempted. A number of activities aimed at achieving a better definition of stock boundaries are currently being conducted at the GFCM level. [The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries, 2016]

The common cuttlefish is a valuable resource in the northern Adriatic Sea (GSA 17) where it is targeted by trawled gear (otter trawl, “rapido” trawl) and set gear (trammel nets, pots and fyke nets). The stock is shared by Slovenian, Croatian and Italian fleets, with the latter accounting for an average of more than 90 percent of catches per year. The reproductive behaviour of the species influences its catchability: during fall the recruits move from coastal waters (nursery) to the circalittoral zone (feeding ground) and in the next spring the same cohort goes back to the shallower infralittoral region to spawn and, subsequently, die (semelparous species). Indeed, recruits dominate trawl landings whether the coastal fishery targets mainly adults during the spawning time. Historical catches trend is declining, and from 2010 onward some of the lowest values have been registered.