CV17018

This report provides the main results of the 2017 underwater television survey on the ‘Labadie, Jones and Cockburn Banks’ ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 20-21. This was the fourth survey to achieve full coverage of the full area. The 2017 survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, CTD and other ecosystem data. A total of 86 UWTV stations were completed at 6 nmi intervals over a randomised isometric grid design. The mean burrow density was 0.44 burrows/m2 compared with 0.18 burrows/m2 in 2016. The 2017 geostatistical abundance estimate was 4.4±0.01 billion a 236% increase on the abundance for 2016 with a CV of 4% which is well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Highest densities were generally observed throughout the ground, and there were also high densities observed close to boundaries. Using the 2017 abundance estimate and updated stock data implies catch of 8,673 tonnes and landings of 6,553 tonnes in 2018 when MSY approach is applied (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2014–2016). One species of sea-pen were recorded as present at the stations surveyed Virgilaria mirabilis. Trawl marks were observed at 32% of the stations surveyed