Profile updated on 18 June 2024
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
IDENTIFICATION
SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)
Trachurus trachurus
SPECIES NAME(s)
Atlantic horse mackerel
COMMON NAMES
Western horse mackerel, Atlantic horse mackerel, European horse mackerel, scad
(Healey et al. 2020) recently bring new findings of the species’ stock structure and distribution. Contrarily to what has been defended so far (Froese and Pauly 2019), the Atlantic horse mackerel can only be found in the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea until Ghana, initiating Trachurus capensis its distribution from there on to Angola and South Africa. Several studies have been developed in the NE Atlantic area (e.g. (Abaunza et al. 2008)), and even if 3 units were identified in the region – western, southern and North Sea – the boundaries and migration patterns among these were never clarified (Azevedo et al. 2017)(ICES 2017)(ICES 2019). Therefore, and because the sampling area from the (Healey et al. 2020) study included southern Portugal towards South Africa (lacking the whole southern unit, western and North Sea units), the assessment units assumed by ICES are here considered: NE Atlantic, Atlantic Iberian waters and Skagerrak and Kattegat, southern and central North Sea, eastern English Channel. The Sahara-Mauritanian area assessed by CECAF/FAO is also recognized (FAO 2018). The potential issues with stock boundaries for the species are subject of an ongoing investigation (ICES 2023).
ANALYSIS
- In 2017 an improvement of the stock assessment model was developed. A change from a separable ADAPT model to an integrated Stock Synthesis Assessment model (SS3) with an emphasis on reducing the retrospective bias characteristic of the assessment at the time. In addition, fishery-independent data and flexible assumptions about selectivity were incorporated. Smaller revisions occurred in 2018, the catch of 2017, and sampling information was included in the assessment (ICES 2019).
SCORES
Management Quality:
6.2
0.0
10.0
