CEFAS25-92 Contract for statistical framework for data limited stocks (Cefas DA)

Scientific advice on stock sustainability and catch limits is provided by the international Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) on a stock-by-stock basis, without considering interactions between stocks. These interactions, such as predator-prey dynamics, resource competition (biological interactions), and mixed fisheries interactions where multiple stocks are caught together and by different fisheries (technical interactions), affect the achievement of policy goals under the UK Fisheries Act 2020.

Gathering the necessary evidence to integrate these processes into management advice will support the UK’s transition towards an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EAFM) and achievement of the objectives set out in the Fisheries Act 2020. Defra have commissioned Cefas to deliver a project that will support four objectives under the Fisheries Act 2020: 1. the sustainability objective - fish and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term; 2. the precautionary objective - the precautionary approach to fisheries management is applied, and exploitation of marine stocks restores and maintains populations of harvested species above biomass levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield; 3. the ecosystem objective - fish and aquaculture activities are managed using an ecosystem-based approach to ensure that their negative impacts on marine ecosystems are minimised and, where possible, reversed; 4. the scientific evidence objective - the management of fish and aquaculture activities is based on the best available scientific advice; and Requirement: The Supplier will provide statistical modelling services to contribute to the development of methods for improving ways that take account of mixed fisheries interactions in management advice; specifically on incorporating interactions of fisheries with data-limited stocks in mixed fisheries models.

The Supplier will work with the Cefas C8504 project team to advise on statistical and methodological aspects of tools to incorporate data-limited stocks in mixed fisheries models, contribute to the development of code and publication of the work in a peer reviewed journal. The development of tools and models will enable management advice to be broadened to take account a greater range of stocks, contributing to an improved evidence base on which to make decisions about the management of mixed fisheries.