Possibly 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]

In GSA 4, European hake is one of the main target species. It is largely exploited by bottom trawlers on the shelf and slope, but also by small-scale fisheries using gillnets and trammel nets with an average less than 3 percent of catches since 2014. The minimum landing since 2005 was observed in the last year (2019). In general, the highest biomass index from Algerian demersal surveys data analysis was observed between 100 m to 200 m in depth and the largest specimens of European hake are caught in the deepest stratum of depth (ALDEM 2019). The maximum biomass index is observed in the eastern part of the Algerian coat. Smaller size classes less than 25 cm are the most dominant in trawlers catches. Discards data are not available; the project is in progress.