Ressources halieutiques hors quotas du Nord Est Atlantique : bilan des connaissances et analyse de scénarios d'évolution de la gestion

Part of the resources caught in the North Sea, Channel or Atlantic Sea do not fall under the « TAC and Quotas » strand of the Common Fisheries Policy, but the European Union may propose that such measures may eventually be applied to them. Usually these resources do not undergo regular assessments. This study focuses on « ex quota » stocks fished by French fleets, in order to assess knowledge concerning them and analyse possible trends in their management. It was contracted with funding from the Maritime fisheries and aquaculture directorate. Thirty-four species in all were chosen with respect to their interest for French fleets and the probability of Europe's adopting supplementary management measures for them. Available data is sometimes patchy (or not yet exploited), so the conclusions should be considered as preliminary. For each of these stocks the distribution with regard to the legal boundaries (particularly the French twelve-mile limit), the main biological features and the way they are fished (whether they are shared with foreign fleets or not, single stock or mixed fisheries, one or several metiers (gear, target, zone combinations) and sequential fisheries, etc.). Next, after diagnosing the state of the stock and its fishing, the possible developments in management are envisaged in terms of controlling access to resources (licences, etc.), setting up a TAC and quota system, technical measures (mesh size, minimum landing sizes, etc.) or using more environmentally friendly fishing gear.