GovWire

This UK plan seeks to address two key issues:

• to support recovery of the North Sea cod stock and,
• to support the fishing industry to manage their quota in line with the reduced TAC that was set in 2020.

Real Time Closures (RTCs) and Real Time Reporting (RTR) in particular will help manage quota issues for the fleet. This plan mainly focuses on spatial measures to avoid catching an abundance of cod. Whilst spatial measures are difficult to quantify, our previous experience of using spatial measures such as RTCs (particularly during the Cod Recovery Plan) demonstrates that such measures can have an observable effect on cod mortality and biomass.

The UK National North Sea Cod Avoidance plan outlines the following;

• Spawning/Seasonal Closures
• Real Time Closures
• Real Time Reporting
• Selectivity Fish and Mud areas (For English vessels this provision is only applicable in Scottish waters IV)