FINAL REPORT Initial assessment of the Norway sandeel, pout and North Sea sprat fishery Norges Fiskarlag Report No.: 2017-008, Rev 3 Date: January 2nd 2018 Certificate code: 251453-2017-AQ-NOR-ASI Report type: Final Report DNV GL – Business Assurance Report title: Initial assessment of the Norway sandeel, pout and North Sea sprat fishery DNV GL Business Assurance Customer: Norges Fiskarlag, Pirsenteret, Norway AS 7462 TRONDHEIM Veritasveien 1 Contact person: Tor Bjørklund Larsen 1322 HØVIK, Norway Date of issue: January 2nd 2018 Tel: +47 67 57 99 00 Project No.: PRJC -557210 -2016 -MSC -NOR http://www.dnvgl.com Organisation unit: ZNONO418 Report No.: 2017-008, Rev 3 Certificate No.: 251453-2017-AQ-NOR-ASI Objective: Assessment of the Norway sandeel, pout and North Sea sprat fishery against MSC Fisheries Standards v2.0. Prepared by: Verified by: Lucia Revenga Sigrun Bekkevold Team Leader and P2 Expert Principle Consultant Hans Lassen P1 Expert Geir Hønneland P3 Expert Stefan Midteide Project Manager Copyright © DNV GL 2014. All rights reserved. This publication or parts thereof may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, whether digitally or otherwise without the prior written consent of DNV GL. DNV GL and the Horizon Graphic are trademarks of DNV GL AS. The content of this publication shall be kept confidential by the customer, unless otherwise agreed in writing. Reference to part of this publication which may lead to misinterpretation is prohibited. DNV GL Distribution: ☒ Unrestricted distribution (internal and external) ☐ Unrestricted distribution within DNV GL ☐ Limited distribution within DNV GL after 3 years ☐ No distribution (confidential) ☐ Secret Rev. No. Date Reason for Issue Prepared by Verified by 0 2017-04-21 Preliminary Draft Report for Client review 1 2017-06-08 Peer Review Draft Report 2 2017-09-15 Public Comment Draft Report 3 2018-01-02 Final Report [yyyy-mm-dd] Public Certification Report DNV GL – Report No. 2017-008, Rev. Rev 3 – www.dnvgl.com MSC Full Assessment Reporting Template V2.0 – issued 8 April 2015 Template approval date: Page i Table of contents ABBREVIATIONS & ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................... 1 STOCK ASSESSMENT ACRONYMS AND REFERENCE POINTS .............................................................. 2 MSC ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS........................................................................................... 2 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Main strengths and weaknesses of the client’s operation 3 1.2 Determination 4 2 AUTHORSHIP AND PEER REVIEWERS ................................................................................ 5 2.1 Peer reviewers 6 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERY ........................................................................................ 7 3.1 Units of Assessment (UoA) and scope of certification sought 7 3.2 Overview of the fishery 12 3.3 Principle One: Target Species Background 17 3.4 Principle Two: Ecosystem Background 36 3.5 Principle Three: Management System Background 14 4 EVALUATION PROCEDURE.............................................................................................. 18 4.1 Harmonised Fishery Assessment 18 4.2 Previous assessments 19 4.3 Assessment Methodologies 19 4.4 Evaluation Processes and Techniques 21 5 TRACEABILITY .............................................................................................................. 26 5.1 Eligibility Date 26 5.2 Traceability within the Fishery 26 5.3 Eligibility to Enter Further Chains of Custody 29 5.4 Eligibility of Inseparable or Practicably Inseparable (IPI) stock(s) to Enter Further Chains of Custody 30 6 EVALUATION RESULTS .................................................................................................. 30 6.1 Principle Level Scores 30 6.2 Summary of PI Level Scores 31 6.3 Summary of Conditions 34 6.4 Recommendations 34 6.5 Determination, Formal Conclusion and Agreement 35 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 35 APPENDIX 1 SCORING AND RATIONALES ...................................................................................... 41 Appendix 1.1 Performance Indicator Scores and Rationale 41 Principle 1 – Evaluation tables 41 Principle 2 UoC 1-3 - – Evaluation tables 63 Principle 2 UoC 4, 5 - – Evaluation tables 103 Principle 2 UoC 6-8 144 Principle 3 – Evaluation tables 187 DNV GL – Report No. 2017-008, Rev. Rev 3 – www.dnvgl.com MSC Full Assessment Reporting Template V2.0 – issued 8 April 2015 Template approval date: Page ii APPENDIX 2 RISK BASED FRAMEWORK (RBF) ............................................................................. 209 APPENDIX 3 CONDITIONS ......................................................................................................... 214 APPENDIX 4 PEER REVIEW REPORTS .......................................................................................... 221 APPENDIX 5 STAKEHOLDER SUBMISSIONS ................................................................................. 222 APPENDIX 6 SURVEILLANCE FREQUENCY .................................................................................... 223 APPENDIX 7 OBJECTIONS PROCESS ........................................................................................... 224 APPENDIX 8 VESSEL LIST ......................................................................................................... 225 APPENDIX 9 CLIENT AGREEMENT ............................................................................................... 226 Figure 1 Distribution of Norwegian fishery for sandeel .................................................................... 13 Figure 2 Distribution of Norwegian fishery for Norway pout ............................................................. 14 Figure 3 Distribution of Norwegian fishery for sprat ........................................................................ 14 Figure 4: Assessment areas for North Sea sand eel ........................................................................ 15 Figure 5 Drawings of fishing gears ............................................................................................... 16 Figure 6 Overview of the ICES advisory process for recurrent advice ................................................ 18 Figure 7: Species compositions of sandeels in commercial landings by sampling areas. ...................... 20 Figure 8 Assessment areas for North Sea sand eel (A. marinus). ..................................................... 22 Figure 9 Stock indicators for Sandeel stocks in the North Sea. ......................................................... 24 Figure 10 Norway pout in Subarea IV and Division IIIa. .................................................................. 28 Figure 11 Norway pout in Subarea IV and Division IIIa. .................................................................. 29 Figure 12 Sprat in Subarea 4. State of the stock and fishery relative to reference points. ................... 32 Figure 13 Sprat in Subarea 4. Estimated landings, recruitment, fishing mortality, and spawning-stock biomass from the stock assessment ............................................................................................. 33 Figure 14: Spawning stock biomass for blue whiting ....................................................................... 40 Figure 15: Fishing pressure for blue whiting .................................................................................. 40 Figure 16: Status of the blue whiting stock against its reference points. ........................................... 40 Figure 17: Sandeel fishing grounds for the Norwegian fleet in 2016. .................................................. 1 Figure 18: Norway pout fishing grounds for the Norwegian fleet in 2016. ............................................ 1 Figure 19: Sprat fishing grounds for the Norwegian fleet in 2016. ...................................................... 1 Figure 20: Major substrates on the shelf in the Greater North Sea. .................................................... 1 Figure 21: EU Natura 2000 Marine Protected Habitats (in blue) in EU jurisdiction. ................................ 3 Figure 22: OSPAR map for threatened or declining habitats. Source: OSPAR Commission. .................... 4 Figure 23: Vulnerable habitats and protected areas as identified in the MAREANO Program maps. ......... 4 Figure 24: a. Bathymetry of the North Sea. ..................................................................................... 5 Figure 25: Significant interactions in the North Sea ecosystem, modelled using statistical tGAMs. .......... 7 Figure 26: Species present in the North Sea and trophic level of each species in the North Sea trophic chain. ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 27: Selectivity index for the targeted species......................................................................... 9 Figure 28: Quantity of fish (in tonnes) consumed by predators and fished. ....................................... 10 Figure 29: Mortality caused on fish groups by the main predator and the fisheries (shown in the x-axis). ..............................................................................................................................................