ICES WGCSE REPORT Report of the Working Group on Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE) 9 18 May Copenhagen, Denmark ICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

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1 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 ICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE ICES CM 2017/ACOM:13 Report of the Working Group on Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE) 9 18 May 2017 Copenhagen, Denmark

2 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Conseil International pour l Exploration de la Mer H. C. Andersens Boulevard DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark Telephone (+45) Telefax (+45) info@ices.dk Recommended format for purposes of citation: ICES Report of the Working Group on Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE), 9 18 May 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark. ICES CM 2017/ACOM: pp. For permission to reproduce material from this publication, please apply to the General Secretary. The document is a report of an Expert Group under the auspices of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and does not necessarily represent the views of the Council International Council for the Exploration of the Sea

3 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 i Contents Executive Summary Introduction Terms of reference Generic ToRs Specific ToRs Additional ToR Participation Methods Internal auditing and external reviews ToR e WGCSE recommendations for stocks to be benchmarked ToR c(ii) Estimation of MSY proxy reference points Completion of checklist for upgrading category 3 and 4 stocks Anglerfish (Lophius budegassa and Lophius piscatorius) in subareas 4 and 6, and in Division 3.a (North Sea, Rockall and West of Scotland, Skagerrak and Kattegat) General Data Historical stock development Short-term projections Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next Benchmark Management considerations References Cod in Division 6.a Introduction General Data Stock assessment Short-term stock projections Reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendation for next Benchmark Management considerations Frequency of assessment Sources... 59

4 ii ICES WGCSE REPORT Cod in Division 27.6.b General Data References Cod in 7.a (Irish Sea) General Data Historical stock development Short-term predictions Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Management considerations References Audit of Cod 27.7a Cod in Divisions 7.bc Cod in Division 7.e k (Celtic Sea) General Data Stock assessment Short-term projections Medium-term projection Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Management considerations References Audit of Cod 27.7.e k Haddock in Division 6.b (Rockall) General Data Description of stock assessment approach Short-term projections MSY evaluations and biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References

5 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 iii 11 Haddock in Division 7.a General Data Historical stock development Short-term projections Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark assessment References Audit of Haddock in the Irish Sea (had.27.7.a) Haddock in Divisions 7.b,c,e k General Information from the industry Data Historical stock development Short-term projections MSY evaluations and biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Megrim in 4.a and 6.a (Northern North Sea and West of Scotland) General Estimation of survey cpue indices Stock assessment Short-term projections Biological reference points References Megrim (Lepidorhombus ssp.) in Division 6.b (Rockall) Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendation for next Benchmark References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 6.a, Functional Unit 11 (West of Scotland, North Minch) General Data available Assessment Catch option table

6 iv ICES WGCSE REPORT Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 6.a, Functional Unit 12 (West of Scotland, South Minch) General Data available Assessment Catch option table Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of nep.fu Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 6.a, Functional Unit 13 (West of Scotland, the Firth of Clyde and Sound of Jura) General Data available Assessment Catch option table Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of nep.fu Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 7.a, Functional Unit 14 (Irish Sea, East) Nephrops Subarea 7 general section General Data Assessment Catch option table Reference points

7 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 v Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of Nephrops in Division 7.a (Irish Sea East, FU14) Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 7.a, Functional Unit 15 (Irish Sea, West) General Data Assessment Catch option table Reference points Management strategy Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of nep.fu Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in divisions 7.b c and 7.j k, Functional Unit 16 (west and southwest of Ireland, Porcupine Bank) General Closed area restrictions Fishery in Data Stock assessment Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Division 7.b, Functional Unit 17 (west of Ireland, Aran grounds) General Data Assessment Catch option table Reference points Management strategies

8 vi ICES WGCSE REPORT Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in divisions 7.a, 7.g, and 7.j, Functional Unit 19 (Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, eastern part of southwest of Ireland) General Data Assessment Catch option table Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark Management considerations References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in divisions 7.g and 7.h, functional units 20 and 21 (Celtic Sea) General Data Assessment Catch options table Reference points Management plans Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark Management considerations References Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in divisions 7.g and 7.f, Functional Unit 22 (Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel) General Data Assessment Catch options table Reference points Management strategies Quality of assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations

9 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 vii References Audit of Nephrops FU22 (Smalls Grounds) Plaice in Division 27.7.a (Irish Sea) General Data Historical stock development Short-term projections Medium-term projections MSY explorations Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark Management considerations Sources Plaice in 7.bc (West of Ireland) General Plaice in the Western Channel (ICES Division 7.e) General Data-limited methods Stock assessment Short-term projections Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next Benchmark Management considerations References Audit of Plaice in 7.e WKProxy review of WGCSE Ple.27.7e, Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in Division 7.e (Western English Channel) Plaice in Divisions 7.f g (Celtic Sea) Type of assessment in Data Stock assessment Short-term projections Precautionary approach reference points Management plans Uncertainties in assessment and forecast References

10 viii ICES WGCSE REPORT WKProxy review of WGCSE Ple.27.7.fg (ple-celt) Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in divisions 7.f and 7.g (Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea) Plaice in the southwest of Ireland (ICES Divisions 7.h k) General Data Historical stock development MSY evaluation Uncertainties and bias in the assessment and forecast Recommendations for the next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of plaice in Division 7.h k (ple-7h k) Pollack in the Celtic Seas (ICES subareas 6 and 7) General Stock Identity Management applicable to Biology The fisheries Surveys Data Landings MSY explorations DCAC model Other DLS methods explorations SPiCT Length-based indicators and reference points: LBI methods Mean length-based mortality estimators Uncertainties in assessment and forecast Ecosystem considerations Management considerations References Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in divisions 4.b c, 7.a, and 7.d h (central and southern North Sea, Irish Sea, English Channel, Bristol Channel, and Celtic Sea) General Management applicable to Management applicable to Management applicable to Fishery in Data Landings data

11 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 ix Length compositions: commercial landings Sampling rates Length composition estimates for landings Age composition estimates for landings Commercial discards Recreational catches Biological data Survey data used in assessment Commercial landings per unit of effort Other relevant data Stock assessment Model structure and input data / parameters for update assessment Retrospective analyses Final update assessment: long-term trends Comparison with previous assessments The state of the stock Sensitivity of the final update assessment to data and assumptions Biological reference points Short-term predictions Recruiting year-class strength Numbers of fish in F-at-age vectors Weights-at-age Maturity ogive Detailed short-term forecast output at status quo F Management options Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Landings and discards data Fishery composition data Recreational fishery harvests Surveys Commercial lpue indices Model formulation Stock structure and migrations Biological parameters Intermediate year fishing mortality and catch levels for forecasts Recommendations for completion of the 2017 benchmark assessment Full benchmark of NE Atlantic sea bass stocks Management considerations References European sea bass in divisions 6.a, 7.b and 7.j (West of Scotland and Ireland)

12 x ICES WGCSE REPORT Sole in Division 7.a (Irish Sea) General Stock assessment Short-term projections MSY explorations Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next Benchmark Management considerations Ecosystem considerations References Sole in West of Ireland Division 7.bc General Sole in Division 7.e General Data Stock assessment Short-term projections Biological reference points Management plan Uncertainties in assessment and forecast Recommendation for the next benchmark Management considerations Ecosystem considerations Regulations and their effects Changes in fishing technology and fishing patterns Changes in the environment References Audit of Sole in 7.e Sole in divisions 7.f and 7.g General Data Stock assessment Short-term projections MSY explorations Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast

13 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 xi 36.9 Recommendation for next Benchmark Management considerations Ecosystem considerations References Sole in the Southwest of Ireland (ICES Divisions 7.h k) General Data Historical stock assessment development MSY evaluation Uncertainties and bias in the assessment and forecast Recommendations for the next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of sole in divisions 7. h-k Sole in the Southwest of Ireland (ICES Divisions 7.h k) General Data Historical stock assessment development MSY evaluation Uncertainties and bias in the assessment and forecast Recommendations for the next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of sole in divisions 7. h-k Whiting in Division 27.6.a General Data Historical stock development Short-term projections MSY explorations MSY and Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in the assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Audit of wgh-scow (Division 27.6.a) Whiting in Division 27.6.b

14 xii ICES WGCSE REPORT General Data Target category Management considerations Audit of whg-rock (Division 27.6b) Whiting in 7.a General Information from the Industry Data Historical stock development Short-term predictions Medium-term projection MSY evaluations and Biological Reference Points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendations for next benchmark assessment Management considerations References Whiting in Division 7.b, c, e k General The fishery in Data Historical stock development Short-term projections MSY evaluations and Biological reference points Management plans Uncertainties and bias in assessment and forecast Recommendation for next benchmark Management considerations References Tables Figures Audit of Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) in Divisions 7.b, c, and e k (Southern Celtic seas and Eastern English Channel) Annex 1: Participants list Annex 2: WGCSE Stock Annexes Annex 3: Working Documents presented to WGCSE

15 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 xiii Annex 4: Technical Minutes of the Review Group for the Review Group of Celtic Sea Stocks (RGCS)

16 ICES WGCSE REPORT Executive Summary The ICES Working Group for the Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE) met from 9th 18th May 2017 at ICES Headquarters in Copenhagen. The participants were from five countries; Belgium, France, Ireland, the Russian Federation and the UK. Of the 29 participants, 14 attended all of the meeting, eight attended part-time, and seven contributed by correspondence. The WG was supported throughout by a professional from ICES secretariat who assisted the WG with their advice drafting tasks. The meeting was chaired by Tim Earl and Helen Dobby (UK). In total the WG is responsible for the provision of updated fisheries data, assessments and draft advice for 39 demersal fish and Nephrops stocks across ICES subareas 6 and 7 (with the distribution of megrim extending into Division 4.a, sea bass into 4.b,c and anglerfish into Subarea 4 and Division 3.a). This includes twelve Nephrops stocks, five sole and plaice stocks, four cod and whiting stocks, three haddock stocks, two each of megrim and sea bass, one anglerfish and one putative pollock stock. As in previous years, advice for Nephrops, anglerfish and Rockall megrim is not issued until autumn to make use of the most up to date survey information. Advice for sea bass has been delayed until autumn this year, to allow changes in the assessment data to be fully reviewed. Advice from the remaining stocks was scheduled for release on the 30th June. Since the last Working Group meeting five stocks have gone through an Interbenchmark procedure; cod.27.7.a, had.27.7.a, ple.27.7.a, whg.27.7.a and bss.27.4.b.c7.a.d h the results of which were presented to the group. The Working Group considered reference points for all category 3 and 4 stocks. Update assessments were generally carried out according to the stock annexes (any deviations were detailed in the stock sections). Overall the stock status across the ecoregion shows a slight improvement relative to that presented last year. Of the 39 stocks assessed, 20 were fished below FMSY and 18 were above MSY Btrigger, ten stocks were fished above FMSY and ten were below MSY Btrigger, nine stocks had unknown status relative to FMSY and eleven relative to Btrigger (see table below). Number of stocks relative to reference points by WG year: F Below FMSY F Above FMSY Unknown SSB Above Btrigger SSB Below Btrigger Unknown

17 2 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 West of Scotland cod remains severely depleted, but the Nephrops stocks within functional units and megrim in divisions 6.a and 4.a are exploited below FMSY and have biomass or abundance above MSY Btrigger. The assessment of Northern Shelf anglerfish stock also shows an increase in stock size and decrease in harvest rate, although reference points have not been defined for this stock. In the Irish Sea, the WKIrish benchmark has resulted in an upgrading of the assessments for haddock, plaice and whiting from category 3 to category 1, and the adoption of a model for cod that allows forecasts to be performed. Sole remains below Blim, but fishing is below Flim, and there are initial signs of increasing biomass and recruitment. Whiting in 7.a remains at a very low level relative to the past and remains severely depleted. Cod, haddock and plaice biomass are above possible reference points and increasing. The two Nephrops stocks FU15 and FU14 are above Btrigger. FU14 and below FMSY. Further south, in the Celtic Sea and West of Ireland areas, the biomass of haddock and whiting stocks have been at a high level well above MSY Btrigger in recent years following some high or moderate recruitment. The cod stock is slightly below Blim, but forecast to increase above Blim during 2017, despite fishing pressure being consistently above FMSY. Among the Nephrops stocks in this area, three stocks are below MSY Btrigger: functional units 17, 19 and 22, and the remaining have no biomass reference points. Functional units 16, 19 and are estimated to be exploited below FMSY, while the remaining functional units are above FMSY. Celtic Sea sole is now assessed as being fished above FMSY although the SSB remains above MSY Btrigger. Reference points were adopted at the Working Group for ple.27.7.fg, ple.27.7.h k and sol.27.7.h k. Both sol.27.7.h k and ple.27.7.fg are above MSY Btrigger and below FMSY, whereas ple.27.7.h k is below Blim and fishing pressure remains above Flim. The assessment for sea bass in 4.b.c, 7.a and 7.d h could not be updated at WGCSE 2017 due to a substantial revision to the calculation of lpue data used as tuning for the assessment.

18 ICES WGCSE REPORT Introduction 1.1 Terms of reference Generic ToRs 2016/2/ACOM05 The following ToRs apply to: AFWG, HAWG, NWWG, NIPAG, WGWIDE, WGBAST, WGBFAS, WGNSSK, WGCSE, WGDEEP, WGBIE, WGEEL, WGEF, WGHANSA and WGNAS. The working group should focus on a ) Consider and comment on ecosystem and fisheries overviews where available; b ) For the aim of providing input for the Fisheries Overviews, consider and comment for the fisheries relevant to the working group on: i ) descriptions of ecosystem impacts of fisheries ii ) descriptions of developments and recent changes to the fisheries iii ) mixed fisheries overview, and iv ) emerging issues of relevance for the management of the fisheries; c ) Conduct an assessment to update advice on the stock(s) using the method (analytical, forecast or trends indicators) as described in the stock annex and produce a brief report of the work carried out regarding the stock, summarising where the item is relevant: i ) Input data and examination of data quality; ii ) Where misreporting of catches is significant, provide qualitative and where possible quantitative information and describe the methods used to obtain the information; iii ) For relevant stocks (i.e. all stocks with catches in the NEAFC area) estimate the percentage of the total catch that has been taken in the NEAFC Regulatory Area in the last year. iv ) The developments in spawning stock biomass, total stock biomass, fishing mortality, catches (wanted and unwanted landings and discards) using the method described in the stock annex; v ) The state of the stocks against relevant reference points; vi ) Catch options for next year; vii ) Historical performance of the assessment and catch options and brief description of quality issues with these; d ) Produce a first draft of the advice on the fish stocks and fisheries under considerations according to ACOM guidelines. e ) Review progress on benchmark processes of relevance to the expert group; f ) Prepare the data calls for the next year update assessment and for the planned data evaluation workshops; g ) Identify research needs of relevance for the expert group. Information of the stocks to be considered by each Expert Group is available here.

19 4 ICES WGCSE REPORT Specific ToRs 2016/2/ACOM13 The Working Group for the Celtic Seas Ecoregion (WGCSE), chaired by Timothy Earl, UK and Helen Dobby, Scotland, UK will meet at ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 18 May 2017 and by correspondence September / October 2017 to: a ) Address generic ToRs for Regional and Species Working Groups; b ) Report on reopened advice if appropriate; c ) Estimate MSY proxy reference points for the category 3 and 4 stocks in need of new advice in 2017 (see table below). i ) Collate necessary data and information for the stocks listed below prior to the Expert Group meeting. An official ICES data call was made for length and select life-history parameters for each stock in the table below; ii ) Propose appropriate MSY proxies for each of the stocks listed below by using methods provided in the ICES Technical Guidelines (i.e. peer reviewed methods that were developed by WKLIFE V, WKLIFE VI, and WKProxy) along with available data and expert judgement. Stock Code Stock name description EG Data Category anf.27.3a46 Anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and L. budegassa) in subareas 4 and 6, and in Division 3.a (North Sea, Rockall and West of Scotland, Skagerrak and Kattegat) WGCSE 3 had.27.7a Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) in Division 7.a (Irish Sea) WGCSE 3.2 lez.27.6b Megrim (Lepidorhombus spp.) in Division 6.b (Rockall) WGCSE 3 nep.fu.2021 Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in divisions 7.g and 7.h, functional units 20 and 21 (Celtic Sea) WGCSE 4 ple.27.7a Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in Division 7.a (Irish Sea) WGCSE 3.2 ple.27.7e ple.27.7fg ple.27.7h k pol sol.27.7h k Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in Division 7.e (western English Channel) Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in divisions 7.f and 7.g (Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea) Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in divisions 7h k (Celtic Sea South, southwest of Ireland) Pollack (Pollachius pollachius) in subareas 6 7 (Celtic Seas and the English Channel) Sole (Solea solea) in divisions 7.h k (Celtic Sea South, southwest of Ireland) WGCSE 3.2 WGCSE 3.2 WGCSE 3.2 WGCSE 4.12 WGCSE 3.2 whg.27.7a Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) in Division 7.a (Irish Sea) WGCSE 3.14 The assessments will be carried out on the basis of the stock annex. The assessments must be available for audit on the first day of the meeting. Material and data relevant for the meeting must be available to the group no later than 25 April 2017 according to the Data Call 2017.

20 ICES WGCSE REPORT WGCSE will report by 25 May 2017 for the attention of ACOM, and by 7 October 2017 for Nephrops stocks, anglerfish and megrim in Rockall. Concerning ToR b) the group will report on the ACOM guidelines on reopening procedure of the advice before 12 October and will report on reopened advice before 28 October Additional ToR The Workshop on the Development of the ICES approach to providing MSY advice for category 3 and 4 stocks (WKMSYCat34) met on 6 to 10 March One of the ToRs was Defining a set of criteria for the identification of category 3 and 4 stocks that should be candidates for full analytical assessment with forecast, and identifying some candidate stocks. In response to this ToR, WKMSYCat34 developed a template to evaluate if a stock could be a candidate for a full analytical assessment with forecast (i.e. category 1) after a benchmark-type or similar process. The template was tested on three example stocks and was found to provide the necessary information to identify the potential candidate stocks. WKMSYCat34 recommended that the template be used by the stock assessment expert groups in 2017 to identify candidate stocks for category 1. Below I have included the relevant chapter of the WKMSYCat34 report. The ACOM leadership has discussed the recommendation and agrees that the template is a useful tool to identify candidate category 3 and 4 stocks for full analytical assessment. The leadership also supports the recommendation to request stock assessment groups to apply the template. The ACOM leadership is aware that adding a new ToR to your group at this stage is not optimal and that it may be difficult to find time to address the request. However, the input from your group is crucial to be able to move forward with this. For this reason, I would like to request that you read the chapter below from the WKM- SYCat34 report and consider to what extent your group will be able to apply (fully or partly) the template for category 3 and 4 stocks assessed by your group. 1.2 Participation The number of participants able to attend the Working Group for the full duration of the meeting continues to decline (Figures and 1.2.2) but this year showed an increase in the total number of people participating due to an increase in numbers participating part-time (this includes members working by correspondence). As last year, seven institutes were represented by full-time participants at the meeting.

21 6 ICES WGCSE REPORT 2017 Figure Numbers of WGCSE full-time participants by institute over time. Figure Numbers of WGCSE participants over time and whether they were full-time or parttime (part-time includes working by correspondence).

22 ICES WGCSE REPORT Figure Number of participants in WGCSE 2017 by day. 1.3 Methods The type of final assessments presented at the WG are summarised as follows: Category 1 age-based assessments and forecasts were conducted for cod.27.6.a, cod 27.7.a, cod.27.7.e k, had.27.6.b, had.27.7.a, had.27.7.b k, ple.27.7.a, sol.27.7.a, sol.27.7.fg, sol.27.7.e, whi.27.6.a, whi.27.7.a, whg.27.7.b ce k; Category 1 Bayesian surplus production model for lez.27.4.a6.a; Category 1: UWTV survey based assessments and advice were used for nep.fu.11, nep.fu.12, nep.fu.13, nep.fu.14, nep.fu.15, nep.fu.16, nep.fu.17, nep.fu.19, nep.fu.2021 and nep.fu.22. Fisheries data were updated at the May meeting and survey data were updated in the autumn. Category 3: Catch-at-age based assessments with caveats i.e. used for trends only and without forecasts for ple.27.7.e, ple.27.7.h k and sol.27.7.h k. Category 3: Assessments based on survey data (Surba model or survey index) are used as the assessment and advice basis for anf.27.3a46, lez.27.6b, and ple.27.7fg. Category 4: Depletion corrected average catch was used for pol Category 5 & 6: No assessments were carried out in 2016 for bss.27.6bc7ad h, ple.27.7bc, sol.27.7bc, cod.6b, whi.27.6b, nep.27.6aoutfu and nep.27.7outfu; only landings statistics were updated. No assessment could be performed at the working group for bss.27.4bc7ad h due to changes in the calculation of the lpue index, which the Working Group considered needed an external review. For the stocks for which a full analytical assessment was possible, the WG typically used either Extended Survivor s Analysis (XSA), Time-Series Analysis (TSA), or Age- Structured Assessment Program (ASAP). These approaches and procedures for using them are discussed in further detail in the relevant stock annexes.

23 8 ICES WGCSE REPORT Internal auditing and external reviews This year ICES reinstated the external review process, establishing a Review Group (RG) with the responsibility of auditing all category 1 stocks ahead of the ADG. No major errors were detected by this process, but the RG did provide some useful comments to be considered in next year s assessments. In addition, the WG again carried out its own internal audit process using the standard ICES template. Stocks audited by the WG included: cod.27.6b, cod.27.7a, cod.27.7e k, had.27.7a, had.27.7b k, ple.27.7e, ple.27.7fg, sol.27.7bc, sol.27.7e, sol.27.7fg, sol.27.7h k, whg.27.6a, whg.27.6b, whg.27.7bce k. Given the workload of many of the scientists at WGCSE (sometimes with one scientist responsible for two or more stocks), many of the reports were not finalized until after the WG meeting. Audits were therefore typically carried out by correspondence after the WG and not completed for some stocks. Lack of thorough review (due to time pressures) for a number of more minor category 3 stocks resulted in assessment errors being identified at the ADG and assessments and having to be re-run as a result. 1.5 ToR e WGCSE recommendations for stocks to be benchmarked WGCSE recommend that cod, haddock and whiting in the Celtic Sea should be benchmarked together in 2018, and that sole in the Celtic Sea, haddock in Rockall, anglerfish in 3a46 should also be benchmarked in The WG also agreed that there is a need to benchmark both West of Scotland whiting and West of Scotland cod in the near future. However, given the issues associated with stock structure (for cod in particular), it may be appropriate to conduct West of Scotland and North Sea cod benchmarks concurrently. The focus of the benchmarks would be on streamlining data compilation procedures for fishery-dependent and survey data. This will give improved transparency and diagnostics surrounding commercial tuning fleets and surveys. The benchmark should also relook at the assessment methods and diagnostics given the potential for changes in selectivity in the commercial fishery. The benchmark should also investigate mixed fisheries and multispecies interactions as well as environmental drivers that may be impacting on growth and recruitment of all three species. Further details are given in the stock sections. 1.6 ToR c(ii) Estimation of MSY proxy reference points The Terms of reference contained a list of eleven stocks for which proxy reference points should be considered. The Working Group addressed this Tor as follows. For three stocks (haddock, plaice and whiting in the Irish Sea), the WKIrish benchmark had already addressed this issue by calculating reference point based on category 1 assessments, and the results were presented to the Working Group and adopted. For three stocks (plaice in 7.e and in 7.h k, sole in 7.h k) age-based assessments are performed, although only used as relative indicators of stock status. For these stocks, reference points were estimated using the package EqSim, and the method of WKMSYREF4. For pollack in subareas 6 7, the current DCAC assessment provides indication of whether the stock is being exploited below FMSY. But no indication of a how biomass compares to any reference point. Alternative proxies using length-based methods and SpiCT were presented to the Working

24 ICES WGCSE REPORT Group, but judged to be unsatisfactory, and so the DCAC estimation was used. For plaice in 7.fg, a SpiCT assessment using survey and lpue data, combined with a hind-cast of discards was used to estimate the stock status relative to reference points. For Nephrops in functional units 20 21, proxy reference already exist, and there were no alternative approaches proposed. For megrim in Rockall, the majority of work for this stock is completed later in the year in time for Autumn advice. For anglerfish in subareas 4 & 6, none of the DL approaches for estimating proxy reference points proved entirely satisfactory. This stock is scheduled to be benchmarked in 2018, and so the work of finding suitable reference points was deferred until the assessment has been reviewed. 1.7 Completion of checklist for upgrading category 3 and 4 stocks To address the additional ToR regarding completing the checklist for upgrading the category 3 and 4 stocks, the following progress was made: For plaice in 7.e and anglerfish in subareas 4 & 6 a checklist was completed and is included in this report in the relevant sections. For and plaice in 7.fg, which are planned to be benchmarked this winter, the issues lists were updated, and so the checklist was considered redundant. For plaice in 7.h k, sole in 7.h k, pollock in subareas 6 7, nephrops in functional units (which is now a category 1 stock) and megrim in Rockall no checklists were completed.