This work was carried out as part of the Fisheries Science Partnership (FSP)
programme. Commercial landings of monkfish into UK ports consist of the two
species, Lophius piscatorius and Lophius budegassa, mixed together.
As there is no EU or UK requirement to report, land, or market the two species
separately, this places a limit on the quantity of data that can be generated
on catch distributions and size composition for the individual species, with
the result that stock assessments are weakened, and management advice for
monkfish issued by ICES is precautionary. This project looked at the
possibility of introducing changes to normal working practices of the fishing
industry in SW England that would improve the data available for the
individual species.
As part of completing electronic logbooks participating vessels recorded the
total weight of monkfish caught on a daily basis together with ICES Rectangle
fished.
