ICES advice is our first port of call when considering the status of fish stocks off the coast of Britain in relation to FAO Code of Conduct limit and target reference points. Their assessments help us form an opinion on our ‘Sustainability – stock status’ criteria. They often provide other useful information in the stock assessments, for example of fishing methods that are particularly problematic (for example with large discards) and also the wider environmental effects (such as the impact on other stocks  – so called ‘multispecies’ assessments).

Providing one has considerable technical knowledge (see our views on the ‘the right to know’), it usually takes no more than a few minutes to work out where ICES advice stands in relation to the FAO Code. One of the positive changes in how ICES advice is presented is the a ‘State of the Stock’ table on the opening page of each stock assessments which, in conjunction with the associated text, goes a long way to to answering these questions, although still requiring expert knowledge to interpret. It is usually fairly easy to work out how the stock stands with regard to FAO limit reference points. However the target reference points are more likely to either be undefined, or inconsistent with FAO technical guidelines.

In the following pages we first explain how we interpret ICES advice in relation to the FAO Code and Technical Guidelines, notably the Sustainability Indicators, and then work through a some examples. These are, of course, as always, our opinions and subject to open-minded change – not facts! Unfortunately, at this level at least, it is unavoidably technical in places.