SUMMARY

SUMMARY

IDENTIFICATION

SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)

Trachurus trachurus

SPECIES NAME(s)

Atlantic horse mackerel

COMMON NAMES

Western horse mackerel, Atlantic horse mackerel, European horse mackerel, scad

(Healey et al. 2020) recently bring new findings of the species’ stock structure and distribution. Contrarily to what has been defended so far (Froese and Pauly 2019), the Atlantic horse mackerel can only be found in the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea until Ghana, initiating Trachurus capensis its distribution from there on to Angola and South Africa. Several studies have been developed in the NE Atlantic area (e.g. (Abaunza et al. 2008)), and even if 3 units were identified in the region – western, southern and North Sea – the boundaries and migration patterns among these were never clarified (Azevedo et al. 2017)(ICES 2017)(ICES 2019). Therefore, and because the sampling area from the (Healey et al. 2020) study included southern Portugal towards South Africa (lacking the whole southern unit, western and North Sea units), the assessment units assumed by ICES are here considered: NE Atlantic, Atlantic Iberian waters and Skagerrak and Kattegat, southern and central North Sea, eastern English Channel. The Sahara-Mauritanian area assessed by CECAF/FAO is also recognized (FAO 2018).


ANALYSIS

Strengths
  •  For 2015 set TAC followed the scientific advice.

SCORES

Management Quality:

Management Strategy:

< 6

Managers Compliance:

10.0

Fishers Compliance:

10.0