Working Group on Widely Distributed Stocks (WGWIDE)

Advice is given based on stock reference points which were updated during the 2025 benchmark. SSB has been declining since 2014 and is slightly above B_lim in 2026. Fishing mortality has been increasing since 2019 and above F_MSY since 2023.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Blue Whiting.</b> This pelagic gadoid is widely distributed in the eastern part of the North Atlantic.

The current assessment configuration (inter-benchmark in 2016) uses preliminary catch and sampling data along with the acoustic survey data from the current year. The 2026 update assessment indicates that SSB has been increasing until 2024 following strong recent recruitment and is well above MSY B_trigger, even though a decline in SSB is estimated from 2024 to 2026. Fishing mortality has been above F_MSY since 2014.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Norwegian Spring Spawning Herring. </b>This stock is migratory, spawning along the Norwegian coast and feeding throughout much of the Norwegian Sea.

The assessment conducted in 2026 was based on the data and configuration agreed during the 2025 benchmark. SSB has been declining since 2007, except for an increase in 2021-2022 which was due to the strong 2016 year-class entering the SSB. Fishing mortality has been below F_MSY since 2010 (except for 2020).

Recruitment in 2019-2022 is estimated to be below average and SSB is below MSY B_trigger in 2026. However, recruitment in 2023 and 2024 is estimated to be above average, and SSB is forecast to be above MSY B_trigger in 2027 and 2028 if the management strategy is followed in 2027.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Western Horse Mackerel</b>. The western stock of horse mackerel is distributed throughout ICES subareas 4,6,7,8 and 9.

Following a benchmark in 2017, the stock is assessed using the Stock Synthesis integrated assessment model and improvements to the assessment were done in the 2024 benchmark. Stock reference points were revised in 2024 and new reference points were estimated. Following a period of declining SSB, there has been a modest upward trend since 2015, albeit from a low level.

The 2026 assessment indicates that SSB is above MSY B_trigger in 2026 and 2027. The assessment has been displaying significant retrospective bias, but changes made to the assessment in the 2024 benchmark have improved the diagnostic analyses compared to the previous model.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>North Sea Horse Mackerel.</b> In the 2024 benchmark, a SAM assessment was set up for the North Sea horse mackerel. The new assessment includes catch data, a commercial CPUE index and a combined SSB index from two ground fish surveys.

The change resulted in the stock being moved from a category 3 to a category 1 stock and a new advice for 2025 replaced the advice issued in 2023. New reference points were estimated in the 2024 benchmark, but some of the reference point (F_MSY, F_pa) could not be reliably estimated. The SSB is estimated to be below B_lim in 2026 and forecast to be below B_lim in 2027 and to remain below B_lim in 2028 even with zero catch in 2027.

Based on the MSY approach the advice for 2027 is therefore for zero catch.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Northeast Atlantic Boarfish. </b>Boarfish is a small, pelagic, planktivorous, shoaling species, found over much of the Northeast Atlantic shelf but primarily in ICES subareas 4,6,7 and 8. The directed fishery occurs primarily in the Celtic Sea and developed during the early 2000s, initially unregulated before the introduction of a TAC in 2011.

In the 2024 benchmark a length based analytical assessment in Stock Synthesis 3 was set up including catch data, a combined acoustic survey biomass index, a combined ground fish survey biomass index, and new reference points were estimated. Based on the new assessment, the stock was moved from category 3 to category 1 and a new advice for 2025 replaced the advice issued in 2023. The current assessment indicates that, following a decline from 2012 to 2019, SSB has been increasing sharply in recent years following high recruitment in 2017 to 2019, but declining since 2024.

SSB is estimated to be well above MSY B_trigger in 2026 and forecast to remain above MSY B_trigger in 2027 and 2028.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Northeast-Atlantic Red Gurnard. </b>This stock was first considered by WGWIDE in<b> </b>2016 with advice issued biennially. The assessment was benchmarked in 2021 and a survey-based relative biomass indicator was developed. The 2026 update assessment continues to show the indicator fluctuating without trend since 2010.

However, large uncertainties remain with regard to landings data due to poor resolution at the species level and reported discarding levels vary widely.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Striped Red Mullet in Bay of Biscay, Southern Celtic Seas, Atlantic Iberian Waters.</b> No assessment is available for this stock and information on abundance and exploitation level is limited with advice given triennially on the basis of the precautionary approach.

However, there are a number of research projects underway which will inform the planned benchmark and potential upgrade of the assessment category.</p>