This document present the whiting part of the study

Striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus), whiting (Merlangius merlangus) and pollack (Pollachius pollachius) are three species for which individualization of stocks is advanced by ICES in western Europe for areas including the Bay of Biscay and the areas bordering the Iberian peninsula. Since 2012, ICES has provided recommendations with regards to these stocks. These recommendations are given for two‐year periods and are based on an approach adopted by ICES in 2012 in the case of insufficient data for an analytical evaluation (Data Limited Stocks, DLS). For 2013 and 2014, ICES recommended reducing catches by 20% as a precautionary measure compared to 2009‐2011 for the three stocks. Considering that TACs are in force for whiting and pollack in the Bay of Biscay, the lack of diagnosis and the application of a precautionary approach could result in reductions in French fishing possibilities. Rapid improvement of the data available for stocks in the DLS category is therefore a priority.

This project aims to change this situation by contributing to the improvement of the knowledge on these three stocks on the basis of the available data (declaring landing data or sampling data for French fishermen, data from scientific campaigns, etc.) or data to be collected (biological parameters).

The first phase of the project will analyze the catches and the activity of the French professional fisheries with regards to the three species (composition and evolution of catches, seasonality, spatial distribution, gear used and discards). For pollack, in addition to the existing data, this phase will also rely on the collection of data on catches on land by professional structures.