European Union, Norway and the United Kingdom - fisheries consultations: agreed records 2026
Agreed records of consultations from meetings of delegations from the United Kingdom, the European Union and Norway, held in November and December 2025, on the joint management of shared North Sea stocks.
18 Plaice
18.1 The Delegations noted that according to the ICES MSY approach catches of plaice in Subarea 4 and Subdivision 20 in 2026 should be no more than 163,951 tonnes. This represents a decrease of 7.2% in the projected catches of plaice in Subarea 4 and Subdivision 20 compared to 2025. ICES estimates that discards and BMS landings are at 55.2% of total catch (by weight) in 2024, and ICES projects discard rates of 51.7% of total catch (by weight) in 2025.
18.2 The Delegations agreed to establish a TAC for 2026 in ICES Subarea 4 (North Sea) and Subdivision 20 (Skagerrak) of 163,951 tonnes. This is a decrease of 7.2%% compared to 2025.
18.3 The Delegations agreed that the resulting TAC for Subarea 4 is 144,605 tonnes (88.20%) and the TAC for Subdivision 20 is 19,346 tonnes (11.80%).