Seine

Overview

Haddock is an important species for Irish demersal fisheries. In 2018 the Irish fleet landed 3500 tonnes worth approximately €6.5 million.   

Haddock live near the sea bed at depths between 10 and 200m and Irish waters provide important spawning and nursery areas for the species. Irish waters are at the southern end of the distribution of haddock, allowing them to grow fast and mature early. They reach a length of around 27cm after two years of growth and most haddock are mature at age two. However, haddock are a cold water species and warm winters have been linked to poor recruitment success. All haddock stocks occasionally produce extremely large fluctuations in stock size which can make managing the stock at the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) level challenging. 

The vast majority of Irish haddock catches are made with trawls (otter trawls and seines). The Celtic Sea (ICES area 7b-k) is the most important area for Irish haddock fishing. 

TR1 gears (trawls and seines with a codend mesh size ≥100mm) are responsible for the majority of the haddock catch by Irish vessels in the Celtic Sea (57% of landings and discards in 7.b-c, e-k between 2014 and 2016; STECF, 2017a). The TR1 fishery in the Celtic Sea is characterized as a mixed fishery, mainly targeting gadoid species, such as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), cod (Gadus morhua), and whiting (Merlangius merlangus) as well as anglerfish and megrim.  

TR2 gears (trawls and seines with a codend mesh size range 70-100mm) are responsible for most of the remainder of Irish haddock catches in the Celtic Sea (29% of landings and discards in 7.b-c, e-k between 2014 and 2016).  

Haddock is an important species for Irish demersal fisheries. In 2018 the Irish fleet landed 3500 tonnes worth approximately €6.5 million.   

FIP at a Glance

View current status
October 01, 2020
4% 39% 32% 25%
Progress Rating (A) Advanced Progress

Reserved for comprehensive FIPs that have achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within the past 12 months.

(B) Good Progress

A basic FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within 12 months.

(C) Some Recent Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months that has never achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result but has reported a Stage 3 activity within the first 12 months.
(D) Some Past Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months BUT has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old AND a Stage 3 activity has been reported within six months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
(E) Negligible Progress
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old, with no Stage 3 activity reported in the last six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months with no Stage 3 activity reported within 12 months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.

The ratings are currently derived by SFP from publicly available data on FIP websites, including FisheryProgress.org, and are determined using the following methodology: View PDF
C Some Recent Progress
Actions Complete

This pie chart represents completed environmental actions. Non-completed environmental actions may contain completed sub-tasks that are not illustrated here. For more information on environmental action progress visit the Actions Progress tab.
  • Complete
  • Incomplete
Next Update Due FisheryProgress requires a FIP to provide update reports every six months, and two missed reports will render the FIP inactive. If a report is overdue, this date will appear red.
Jul 2024
Target End Date
Sep 2025
Additional Impacts:
Ecosystem

FIP Leads

Organization Name 
Marine Applications Ltd
Organization Type 
Consultant
Primary Contact 
Frank Fleming
Email 
frank@veri.fish
Phone 
00353214928934
Website Name 
Verifish
Organization Name 
Verifact
Organization Type 
Consultant
Primary Contact 
Mike Fitzpatrick
Email 
mike@vfact.com
Phone 
00353214928934
Website Name 
Irish Fishery Improvement Projects
FIP Identification Number The FIP Identification Number is automatically generated by FisheryProgress when a FIP profile is created. While the number itself is not meaningful, they are used by NGOs, academia, and industry to refer to FIPs in a consistent way.
14322

Overview

Reason for Inactivity: European plaice in the North Sea was successfully certified to the MSC Standard in 2018. The timeline for the North Sea lemon sole FIP came to an end in April 2023 and the final annual review indicated that no performance indicator would be expected to fail in an MSC assessment. However, there are still activities underway to ensure the lemon sole fishery demonstrates best practice against the MSC Standard. The main outstanding actions for the lemon sole FIP relate to the development of harvest strategy and harvest control rules. Lemon sole is managed through the North Sea Multi Annual Plan, as a bycatch species, and is currently fished using a joint Total Allowable Catch with witch. Defra are working with ICES to split the TAC and implement a single species TAC in 2024, which will progress the remaining Principle 1 actions.

Project UK is working towards an environmentally sustainable future for UK fisheries by running Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) on 12 UK fisheries that have been selected by the UK seafood supply chain. They were selected due to their importance for the UK market.

Project UK has been developed in response to the demand from the supply chain, retailers, industry and NGOs. The project will commission an MSC pre-assessment to inform and develop an action plan for each fishery, which will identify improvements.

Plaice and Lemon sole are demersal flatfish species generally living on sandy substrates but may also be found on mud and gravel and stony bottoms. They are shallow water species found from the near coast as juveniles down to around 200m in northern waters. Plaice are widely distributed on the continental shelf from the Bay of Biscay in the south through the English Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea to the Baltic, Iceland, the Norwegian coast and Barents Sea in the north.

TACs are set for the North Sea Plaice fishery.  Around 93% of this TAC was allocated to the EU. The UK share (initial allocation) accounts for around 26% of the total TAC.

TACs are set for the North Sea Lemon Sole fishery. In 2015 the TAC was 6,391 tonnes. 100% of this TAC was allocated to the EU. The UK share (initial allocation) accounts for around 61% of the total TAC.

The 3 Units of Assessment (Demersal Trawl, Beam Trawl and Seine) operate in different locations of the North Sea

Reason for Inactivity: European plaice in the North Sea was successfully certified to the MSC Standard in 2018. The timeline for the North Sea lemon sole FIP came to an end in April 2023 and the final annual review indicated that no performance indicator would be expected to fail in an MSC assessment. However, there are still activities underway to ensure the lemon sole fishery demonstrates best practice against the MSC Standard. The main outstanding actions for the lemon sole FIP relate to the development of harvest strategy and harvest control rules.

FIP Leads

Organization Name 
Facilitated by the Marine Stewarship Council
Organization Type 
Other
Primary Contact 
Jo Pollett
Email 
jo.pollett@msc.org
Website Name 
Project UK
FIP Identification Number The FIP Identification Number is automatically generated by FisheryProgress when a FIP profile is created. While the number itself is not meaningful, they are used by NGOs, academia, and industry to refer to FIPs in a consistent way.
7730
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