FN Archimer Export Format PT AVIS TI Report of the Working Group for the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters Ecoregion (WGBIE). 7–13 May 2014 Lisbon, Portugal BT AF ICES SI BREST LA ROCHELLE ANGLET SE PDG-RBE-STH-LBH PDG-RBE-HGS PDG-RBE-HGS-LRHAQ AC ICES UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00239/35017/33554.pdf LA English DT Expertises CR EVHOE 2000 EVHOE 2001 EVHOE 2002 EVHOE 2003 EVHOE 2004 EVHOE 2005 EVHOE 2006 EVHOE 2007 EVHOE 2008 EVHOE 2009 EVHOE 2010 EVHOE 2011 EVHOE 2012 EVHOE 2013 EVHOE 871 EVHOE 882 EVHOE 883 EVHOE 894 EVHOE 905 EVHOE 916 EVHOE 927 EVHOE 948 EVHOE 959 EVHOE 97 EVHOE 98 EVHOE 99 LANGOLF 2008 LANGOLF 2009 LANGOLF 2010 LANGOLF 2011 LANGOLF 2012 LANGOLF 2013 LANGOLF07 ORHAGO ORHAGO 01 ORHAGO 02 ORHAGO 08 ORHAGO 09 ORHAGO 10 ORHAGO 11 ORHAGO 12 ORHAGO 13 ORHAGO6-1 ORHAGO6-2 ORHAGO7-1 ORHAGO7-2 BO Thalassa Gwen Drez AB The ICES Working Group for the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters Ecoregion (WGBIE) met in Lisbon, Portugal during 7–13 May 2014. There were 23 stocks in its remit distributed from ICES Divisions IIIa to IXa though mostly distributed in Sub Ar-eas VII, VIII and IX. There were 18 participants (of whom 2 participated by videocon-ference). The group was tasked with carrying out stock assessments and catch forecasts and providing a first draft of the ICES advice for 2014 for 16 stocks. 4 stocks were listed as “multiyear”. For those stocks, catch information was updated. For the remaining stocks, WGBIE had to finalise a draft advice prepared by WGNEW. Analytical assessments using age-structured models were conducted for the northern and southern stocks of megrim, the Bay of Biscay sole and nephrops stocks, whereas the two hake stocks and one southern stock of anglerfish were assessed using models that allow the use of only length-structured data (no age data). A surplus-production model, without age or length structure, was used to assess the second southern stocks of anglerfish. No analytical assessments have been provided for the northern stocks of anglerfish after 2006. This is mostly due to ageing problems and to an increase in dis-cards in recent years, for which there is no reliable data at the stock level. The state of stocks for which no analytical assessment could be performed was inferred from ex-amination of commercial LPUE or CPUE data and from survey information. Four stocks within the remit of the WG went through the benchmarking process in 2014. For the two southern megrim stocks, the inclusion of discards and some modifi-cations in the assessment model settings were carried out. For northern hake, the ret-rospective pattern issue which arose in last year’s assessment was partly addressed and for southern hake, convergence issues of the assessment model were investigated. Three nephrops stocks from the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian waters are scheduled for benchmark assessments at the start of 2015. The WGBIE meeting spent some time plan-ning this benchmark (see Annex N) together with longer term benchmarks (2016 and after, see section 1.). A recurrent issue significantly constrained the group’s ability to address the terms of reference this year. Despite an ICES datacall with a deadline of 4 weeks before the meeting, data for several stocks were only available at the start of the meeting which lead to increase in workload during the working group, as in that case, the assessments could not be carried out in National Laboratories prior to the meeting as mentioned in the ToRs. This is an important matter of concerns for the group members. Section 1 of the report presents a summary by stock and discusses general issues. Sec-tion 2 provides descriptions of the relevant fishing fleets and surveys used in the as-sessment of the stocks. Sections 3 to 13 contain the single stock assessments. Additionally, the WG ToRs this year included a reconsideration of the reference points for northern hake (see Annex R). PY 2014 ID 35017 ER EF