Taking stock 2021 - are TACs set to achieve MSY?

The report finds that while some progress has been made since 2015, the EU and UK failed to meet the 2020 deadline to end overfishing, with over 40% of assessed TACs for 2021 still exceeding scientific advice. It highlights a particular lack of consistency in following advice for data-limited stocks and notes a mixed record for the UK, which improved transparency by including NGOs in negotiations but continued to push for unsustainable bycatch TACs and inter-area flexibility in the West of Scotland.

• Progress toward aligning TACs with scientific advice continued in 2021 across most metrics, but remained insufficient as more than 40% of assessed TACs for 2021 still exceeded the advice.
• The EU and UK have consistently failed to follow scientific advice for data-limited stocks that require precautionary measures, despite the legal requirement for the MSY objective to apply to all harvested stocks.
• The UK improved transparency by including NGOs in its 2021 EU/UK TAC negotiation delegation, though access to actual negotiations remains limited and the operational details of the TCA's Specialised Committee on Fisheries are unclear.
• The UK demonstrated environmental progress by considering ecosystem needs, such as seabird food supply, for forage fish like sandeel, but also advocated for unsustainable bycatch TACs for stocks with zero-catch advice and increased inter-area flexibility in the West of Scotland, risking stocks like West of Scotland cod.
• EU decision-makers, including the UK at the time, did not meet the 2020 deadline to end overfishing.

APA

ClientEarth (2025). Taking stock 2021 - are TACs set to achieve MSY? https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2021-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/

Chicago

ClientEarth. Taking stock 2021 - are TACs set to achieve MSY? 2025. https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2021-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Taking stock 2021 - are TACs set to achieve MSY? |date=27 March 2025 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2021-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2025taking, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Taking stock 2021 - are TACs set to achieve MSY?}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2021-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }