Managing mixed fisheries in the European Western Waters: application of Fcube methodology

Fisheries management is moving towards ecosystem based management instead of traditional single species based advice. To progress towards an ecosystem approach, a new methodology called “Fleet and Fisheries Forecast” (Fcube) has been proposed. In the application of the method, a precise initial fleet and metier segmentation used is important to get representative results in the analysis. Once they were defined, different data aggregations for fleets and metiers were tested with the objective of getting the best aggregation level to get equilibrium between detailed results and real management. Results showed that the difference in the forecast catches in different aggregation levels was low. Finally, hindcasting analyses were carried out to evaluate how sensitive forecasts are to different parameters. Stock indicators and catchability show the highest source of error and the effort share the lowest. In this analysis, Western Waters fleet management results show consistency between stocks and their respective TACs. The study highlights that it is possible to deliver advice within the context of mixed fisheries using the Fcube method.