• Summary Report on 2019 Residue Monitoring of Irish Farmed Fish & 2019 Border Inspection Post Fishery Product Testing undertaken at the Marine Institute

  Glynn, D.; McGovern, E.; Farragher, E.; Kelly, Corrine; Moffat, R.; Toomey, M. (Marine Institute, 2020)

  On behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), the Marine Institute carries out monitoring of chemical residues in finfish for aquaculture sector. This monitoring is set out in the annual National Residue Control Plan, which is approved by the European Commission, and is an important component of the DAFM food safety controls and is implemented under a service contract with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Since 1999, the Marine Institute has implemented the National Residues Monitoring Programme for aquaculture. This is carried out on behalf of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, which is the responsible organisation for residue controls on farmed finfish. In 2019, in excess of 912 tests and a total of 2,601 measurements were carried out on 176 samples of farmed finfish for a range of residues. Implementation of the Aquaculture 2019 Plan involves taking samples at both farm and processing plant: *118 target samples taken at harvest: 105 farmed salmon and 13 freshwater trout. * 58 target samples were taken at other stages of production: 50 salmon smolts and 8 freshwater trout. All 2019 samples were compliant. For target sampling of farmed fish, a summary table of the residue results from 2005 - 2019 is outlined in Table 1. Overall, the outcome for aquaculture remains one of consistently low occurrence of residues in farmed finfish, with no non-compliant target residues results for the period 2006-2014, 0.11% and 0.10% non-compliant target residues results in 2015 and 2016 respectively and no non-compliant target results for the period 2017 to 2019.
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  The Stock Book 2020: Annual Review of Fish Stocks in 2020 with Management Advice for 2021

  Marine Institute (Marine Institute, 2020)

  The Stock Book is the principal annual publication of the Marine Institute's Fisheries Ecosystems Advisory Services (FEAS). Its purpose is to provide the latest impartial scientific advice on the commercially exploited fish stocks of interest to Ireland. The Stock Book is used by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine - (DAFM) at the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) negotiations with the EU in December and throughout the year at fisheries management meetings.
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  Western European Shelf Pelagic Acoustic Survey (WESPAS), 03 June – 12 July, 2020

  O'Donnell, Ciaran; O’Malley, M.; Smith, T.; O’Brien, S.; Mullins, E.; Connaughton, P.; Perez Tadeo, M.; Barile, C. (Marine Institute, 2020)

  The WESPAS survey program is the consolidation of two existing survey programs carried out by FEAS, the Malin Shelf herring acoustic survey, and the boarfish acoustic survey. The Malin Shelf herring acoustic survey has been carried out annually since 2008 and reports on the annual abundance of summer feeding aggregations of herring to the west of Scotland and the north and west of Ireland from 54°N to 58°30’N. The boarfish survey was conducted from 2011 using a chartered fishing vessel and reported the abundance of spawning aggregations of boarfish from 47°N to 57°N. In 2016 both surveys were combined into the WESPAS survey and have been carried out onboard the RV Celtic Explorer over a 42-day period, providing synoptic coverage of shelf waters from 47°30’N northwards to 58°30’N. Age stratified relative stock abundance estimates of boarfish, herring and horse mackerel within the survey area were calculated using acoustic data and biological data from trawl sampling. Stock estimates of boarfish and horse mackerel were submitted to the ICES assessment Working Group for Widely Distributed Stocks (WGWIDE) meeting in August 2020. Herring estimates are submitted to the Herring Assessment Working Group (HAWG) meeting in March every year. Survey performance will be reviewed at the ICES Planning Group meeting for International Pelagic Surveys (WGIPS) meeting in January 2021.
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  The “Smalls” Nephrops Grounds (FU22) 2020 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2021

  Aristegui, M.; Blaszkowski, M.; Doyle, J.; Ryan, G.; McAuliffe, M (Marine Institute, 2020)

  This report provides the main results and findings of the fifteenth annual underwater television survey on the ‘Smalls grounds’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 22. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. A total of 40 UWTV stations were surveyed successfully (high quality image data), carried out over an isometric grid at 4.5nmi or 8.3km intervals. The precision, with a CV of 8%, was well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS (ICES, 2012). The 2020 abundance estimate was 33% lower than in 2019 and at 750 million is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (990 million). Using the 2020 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2021 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters are between 1238 and 1560 tonnes (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2017–2019). One species of sea pens was recorded as present at the stations surveyed: Virgularia mirabilis. Trawl marks were observed at 48% of the stations surveyed.
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  The Labadie, Jones and Cockburn Banks Nephrops Grounds (FU2021) 2020 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2021.

  Aristegui, M.; Tully, D.; Blaszkowski, M.; Doyle, J.; Fee, D.; O'Connor, S.; White, J. (Marine Institute, 2020)

  This report provides the main results of the 2020 underwater television survey on the ‘Labadie, Jones and Cockburn Banks’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 2021. The 2020 survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, and other ecosystem data. A total of 97 UWTV stations were completed at 6nm intervals over a randomised isometric grid design. The mean burrow density was 0.102 burrows/m2 compared with 0.06 burrows/m2 in 2019. The 2020 geostatistical abundance estimate was 1020 million, a 65% increase on the abundance from 2019, with a CV of 5%, which is well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Low to medium densities were observed throughout the ground. Using the 2020 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2021 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters are between 1682 and 1710 tonnes (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2017–2019). One species of sea-pen (Virgularia mirabilis) were recorded as present at the stations surveyed. Trawl marks were observed at 36% of the stations surveyed.

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