Taking stock 2024 – 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. Nearly one quarter of assessed TACs for 2024 still exceed scientific advice, with particularly poor compliance for bycatch and data-limited stocks. The report highlights a lack of transparency in negotiations and calls for a genuine ecosystem-based approach to TAC-setting for 2025 and beyond.

• Progress in aligning Total Allowable Catches (TACs) with scientific advice has been insufficient; nearly 25% of assessed TACs for 2024 still exceed the advice, which is only a marginal improvement over the previous year.
• Compliance with scientific advice is notably lower for data-limited stocks and bycatch stocks compared to target stocks, despite the legal requirement for MSY to apply to all harvested stocks.
• Transparency regarding the TAC negotiation process is severely limited, hindering accountability. Additionally, guidelines for "special stocks" intended for adoption by July 2021 remain unresolved.
• The UK has shown environmental progress in managing forage fish like sandeel to support seabird food supplies, but has also advocated for the rollover of unsustainable bycatch TACs for stocks with zero-catch advice and increased inter-area flexibility in the West of Scotland.
• EU decision-makers, including the UK during the relevant period, did not meet the 2020 deadline to end overfishing.

APA

ClientEarth (2024). Taking stock 2024 – are TACs set to achieve MSY? https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2024-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/

Chicago

ClientEarth. Taking stock 2024 – are TACs set to achieve MSY? 2024. https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2024-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Taking stock 2024 – are TACs set to achieve MSY? |date=7 November 2024 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2024-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2024taking, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Taking stock 2024 – are TACs set to achieve MSY?}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/taking-stock-2024-are-tacs-set-to-achieve-msy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }