Horse mackerel projections under various management options and resource scenarios

If only a TAC control is to be imposed on the midwater trawl fishery for horse mackerel, a substantial reduction in the current allocation to this fishery will be required to allow for the possibility that the recent reduction in CPUE mainly reflects a decrease in abundance. However, the imposition of an effort limit in this fishery at the level of the average effort over recent years would avoid necessity for this reduction, and would allow for the possibility of high midwater catches if this CPUE drop is primarily the consequence of a downward fluctuation in catchability.