A substantial increase in the monkfish quota for 2025 demonstrates clearly the value of improved scientific efforts in assessing marine stocks, as monkfish is no longer a data deficient species.
Shetland fishermen have welcomed next year’s increase in monkfish quotas, as agreed by the UK and the European Union as part of an annual fisheries agreement.
The Shetland Fishermen’s Association has often held up monkfish as an example of how quota reductions – due to a lack of scientific knowledge – can be mitigated by committing extra resources to proper assessments of fish stocks. For many years, monkfish has been considered to a data deficient species, which resulted in the implementation of precautionary quotas.
A recent scientific benchmark of the monkfish stock, which considers new data submissions, including from industry, has resulted in the industry’s position on the need for investment in fisheries science being vindicated. Sufficient data was gathered for monkfish to be upgraded to a full analytical assessment.
‘Putting the funding and scientific effort into losing the ‘data deficient’ label long attached to monkfish has resulted in a notable quota increase for this valuable species, an important component of vessels’ landings – and an economic boon for our community,’ said SFA executive officer Daniel Lawson.
‘This shows what can be sustainably achieved by targeted investment in fisheries science. Data deficient stocks are the scourge of fisheries management. Quotas are slashed, and fishing crews lose out, through no fault of their own – but because adequate resources have not been put in to answering scientific unknowns. This agreement brings monkfish quotas back to where they were in previous years, and rights the wrong of recent precautionary quota cuts driven by the problem of data deficiency.’
