On request from the Directorate of Fisheries, the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) have reviewed the state of knowledge for wrasses and provides advice for management regulations of the wrasse fisheries for 2021:
- IMR supports the Directorates suggestion of reducing entrance size in wrasse traps (circular, 60 mm diameter), which appears to be effective in reducing the catch of ballan wrasse and cod, while probably also reducing bycatch of brown crab and lobsters.
- To reduce bycatch of wrasse below the minimum size limit, it is adviced that the short end of traps are fitted with a selection grid with several openings (min 12 mm wide), allowing smaller fish to escape when the trap is hauled.
- IMR advice no changes in the National quota of 18 million wrasse for 2021; and no changes in the same geographical distribution between the southern, western and Northern management region. This is based on trends from fishery-dependent data, that show only small changes in catch-per-unit-effort from 2019 to 2020 on broader geographical scales. However, the mean length of goldsinny and corkwing was lower in 2020 in the Northern region.
- Fishing for ballan wrasse for brood stock should be limited to the period from 15. April to 30. May.