Advice
Management considerationsTo protect the stock in this Functional Unit, management is required to be implemented at the Functional Unit level.
A reduction of the catch corresponding to F
2008 can be considered as an intermediate step toward F
0.1 (as a proxy for F
msy). Alternatively, a constraint on the year to year change in TAC as is typical of management plans and the Communication on Fishing Opportunities for 2010 [COM (2009) 224] might be considered.
There is a bycatch of other species in the Moray Firth area. It is important that efforts are made to ensure that unwanted bycatch is kept to a minimum in this fishery. Current efforts to reduce discards and unwanted bycatches of cod under the Scottish Conservation credits scheme, include the implementation of larger meshed square mesh panels and real time closures to avoid cod.
Factors affecting the fisheries and the stock In the Moray Firth area the
Nephrops stock inhabits a single continuous area of muddy sediment extending from north of Fraserburgh to Inverness.
The Moray Firth
Nephrops ground is located close to the Scottish coast and is exploited almost exclusively by UK vessels. Landings from this fishery are predominantly reported from Scotland, with very small contributions from England in the mid-1990s, but none recently.
Regulations and their effectsDiscarding rates averaged over the period 2006 to 2008 for this stock were about 6% by number. This represents a marked reduction in discarding rate compared to the average for the period 2003 to 2005. This may arise from the increasing use of larger size meshes in the northern North Sea, although reduction in recruitment may also account for this change.