Quota top-ups and monitoring progress of TAC decisions towards MSY

The document examines how the transition from regulating landings to regulating catches under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) landing obligation complicates the monitoring of TACs. It highlights that 'top-up' calculations—adding previously discarded amounts to landings advice—are hindered by missing scientific data on discards, a lack of transparency regarding the European Commission's methodology, and the absence of official records for proposed top-up quantities. The author argues that without accessible data on fleet-segment discards and clear methodology, civil society cannot verify if TACs align with scientific advice or the MSY objective.

• The introduction of the landing obligation shifts the purpose of TACs from regulating landings to regulating catches, requiring TACs to be compared to total catch advice rather than landings advice. This necessitates 'top-up' or 'uplift' amounts to account for fish that were previously discarded but must now be landed.
• Calculating accurate top-ups is difficult because scientific advice on total catches is often unavailable for many stocks; in these cases, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) only provides landings advice, leaving the discard component unknown.
• Between 2016 and 2018, the landing obligation is phased in by fleet segment rather than by stock, meaning TACs must be topped up only by the discard contribution of the specific fleet segments now subject to the obligation.
• There is a significant lack of transparency regarding the European Commission's top-up process; the methodology is not publicly available in detail, and proposed top-up percentages and quantities are often missing from official documents, appearing only in unofficial sources or upon request.
• Exemptions from the landing obligation, such as de minimis and high survival exemptions, complicate TAC-setting. Specifically, 'residual mortality' for stocks with high survival exemptions is not accounted for in Commission calculations, potentially allowing fishing mortality to exceed advised levels.
• Crucial data needed for top-up calculations—such as the split between Union waters and third-country waters and spatial mismatch information—are used by the Commission but are not readily accessible to the public.

APA

ClientEarth (2016). Quota top-ups and monitoring progress of TAC decisions towards MSY. https://www.clientearth.org/media/v3fhcr3b/2016-12-02-quota-top-ups-and-monitoring-progress-of-tac-decisions-towards-msy-why-top-up-calculations-are-both-crucial-and-challenging-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Quota top-ups and monitoring progress of TAC decisions towards MSY. 2016. https://www.clientearth.org/media/v3fhcr3b/2016-12-02-quota-top-ups-and-monitoring-progress-of-tac-decisions-towards-msy-why-top-up-calculations-are-both-crucial-and-challenging-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Quota top-ups and monitoring progress of TAC decisions towards MSY |date=December 2016 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/v3fhcr3b/2016-12-02-quota-top-ups-and-monitoring-progress-of-tac-decisions-towards-msy-why-top-up-calculations-are-both-crucial-and-challenging-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2016quota, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Quota top-ups and monitoring progress of TAC decisions towards MSY}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/v3fhcr3b/2016-12-02-quota-top-ups-and-monitoring-progress-of-tac-decisions-towards-msy-why-top-up-calculations-are-both-crucial-and-challenging-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }