Irish Sea

In comparison to the North Sea, fishing pressure has historically been much lower and stocks of small pelagic fish (herring, sprat) are considered in relatively good shape. Consistent with the importance of herring and Nephrops fisheries and declines of cod and whiting through the 90s, long-term trends (1980-2005) show that there have been significant reductions in the trophic level of landings and fish size. Increase in the haddock stock is possibly responsible for the increase in the proportion of predatory fish. The current state (pie diagram) shows small fish size accompanied by high proportion of overexploited stocks and high variability in biomass. However, the mean life span and proportion of predators appear to have been much less impacted. For more information on stocks.