Reporting on progress of TAC decisions and the state of fish stocks towards MSY

The document identifies significant gaps in how the European Commission and other stakeholders report on fish stocks and TACs, noting that current methods often fail to track management progress toward MSY and rely on incomplete data. It recommends that the Commission's Article 50 report include direct comparisons between TACs and scientific advice, cover all harvested species regardless of data availability, and explicitly report on biomass levels alongside fishing mortality. The briefing also highlights the need for standardized labeling and clearer methodology across various reports to avoid ambiguous or misleading conclusions about whether stocks are 'fished sustainably'.

• Scientific advice based on MSY is unavailable for a large majority of stocks; in 2016, ICES provided MSY-based advice for only 62 of over 200 stocks managed by TACs in the Northeast Atlantic, North Sea, and Baltic Sea. Furthermore, only 38 of those 62 stocks had MSY-based advice available throughout the entire time-series since the 2014 CFP reform.
• The European Commission's mandatory annual report under Article 50 fails to report on the level of TACs relative to MSY-based scientific advice, focusing instead on fishing mortality and the proportion of stocks within safe biological limits. This prevents a conclusion on whether the management process itself is making the legally required progress toward the MSY objective.
• The Commission's Article 50 report is considered incomplete because it primarily focuses on data-rich stocks with MSY estimates and emphasizes fishing mortality over biomass levels, despite the MSY objective explicitly requiring the restoration of stocks above biomass levels capable of producing MSY.
• Current reporting by the Commission is criticized for using ambiguous language and presenting data out of context, which can create a false impression of progress. Terms such as 'fished sustainably' or 'showing improvement' are often used without supporting data or clear definitions.
• There is a lack of consistency and clarity across different reports from the Commission, NGOs, and national administrations, such as the UK's Defra. Discrepancies arise because some reports assess management intention (TAC alignment) while others assess actual stock status (fishing mortality and biomass), yet both may use the phrase 'in line with MSY'.
• The Commission's list of EU fisheries in line with MSY is potentially misleading because it focuses solely on EU fisheries and does not account for the total fishing levels of shared stocks, including those exploited by third countries.

APA

ClientEarth (2016). Reporting on progress of TAC decisions and the state of fish stocks towards MSY. https://www.clientearth.org/media/gchafeme/2016-12-02-clientearth-briefing-reporting-on-progress-of-tac-decisions-and-the-state-of-fish-stocks-towards-msy-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Reporting on progress of TAC decisions and the state of fish stocks towards MSY. 2016. https://www.clientearth.org/media/gchafeme/2016-12-02-clientearth-briefing-reporting-on-progress-of-tac-decisions-and-the-state-of-fish-stocks-towards-msy-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Reporting on progress of TAC decisions and the state of fish stocks towards MSY |date=December 2016 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/gchafeme/2016-12-02-clientearth-briefing-reporting-on-progress-of-tac-decisions-and-the-state-of-fish-stocks-towards-msy-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2016reporting, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Reporting on progress of TAC decisions and the state of fish stocks towards MSY}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/gchafeme/2016-12-02-clientearth-briefing-reporting-on-progress-of-tac-decisions-and-the-state-of-fish-stocks-towards-msy-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }