Protocol for the monitoring of the common fisheries policy

Monitoring the performance of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is required by Article 50 of the CFP. The European Commission requests the Scientific Technical Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) to report on this performance every year. To ensure consistency of the indicators over time, this protocol was developed by JRC experts and approved by STECF. The protocol defines the geographical scope of the analysis as FAO area 27 (northeast Atlantic, NEA) and FAO area 37 (Mediterranean and Black Sea, MED). The data should be sourced from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and the Scientific Technical Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). To identify the list of stocks that will be retained in the analysis, a sampling frame is used to filter all stocks managed with a TAC in the NEA and all stocks with a quantitative assessment from the relevant GSAs in the MED. Three types of indicators of management performance are used. First, the number of "fit for purpose" data provides an overview of the available stocks used in the report. Second, the design-based indicators provide the number of stocks that are above/below different reference points in relation to fishing pressure, safe biological limits and Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) limits. Third, the model-based indicators provide trends in exploitation, biomass and decadal recruitment. For model-based indicators, the data are modelled using a state-space model as implemented in the R-package JARA. The model specification is detailed in this protocol. A series of indicators of advice coverage is also defined.