In overexploitation.
[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]

European hake is a target demersal species of the Mediterranean fishing fleets. It is largely exploited in GSA 1, mainly by trawlers on the shelf and slope (97 percent landings), but also by small-scale fisheries using gillnets and trammel nets (3 percent) (average percentages estimated in 2019). The trawler fleet (118 boats in 2018) is the largest in landings (294 tonnes in 2019). The trawl fishing fleet in GSA 3 is heterogeneous; longliners are not found. The number of trawlers operating in this area is 82. European hake in GSA 3 is found at depths ranging from 50 m to 510 m. In the period 2016-2018, the mean annual European hake production was 124 tonnes.