Report Working Group on Southern Horse Mackerel, Anchovy and Sardine (WGHANSA). 2020. ICES

The main task of WGHANSA was to assess the status of the stocks of sardine in the Celtic Seas and English Channel (pil.27.7), sardine in the Bay of Biscay (pil.27.8abd), sardine in the Cantabrian Sea and Atlantic Iberian waters (pil.27.8c9a), anchovy in the Bay of Biscay (ane.27.8), anchovy in Atlantic Iberian waters (ane.27.9a; components west and south), horse mackerel in Atlantic Iberian waters (hom.27.9a) and jack mackerel in the Azores (jaa.27.10). Assessments and short-term forecasts were updated with modifications to mitigate the impact of missing surveys in 2020 due to the COVID19 disruption. For sardine in 8c9a, the PELAGO index was raised by a linear regression model to accommodate the lack of the PELACUS estimation; the age composition of PELAGO was assumed to represent the whole stock. The biomass of sardine (age 1+) is above MSY Btrigger for the first time since 2009. Fishing mortality is the lowest in the time-series but still above FMSY. To answer a special request from Portugal and Spain catch scenarios for 2020 were revised. For anchovy 9a.west, the PELAGO index was raised by a linear regression to accommodate the lack of the PELACUS2020 estimate. The stock size indicator increased from 4129 tonnes in 2019 to 56 526 tonnes in 2020. The harvest rate increased from 0.155 in management year 2018 to 0.63 in management year 2019. The relative SSB of anchovy 9.a.south increased 26% from 2019 to 2020 being well above Bpa. Relative Fishing mortality (F) has fluctuated with no clear trend. From management year 2018 to 2019, relative F decreased 22%. The index ratio (1over2 rule) showed a 98% increase of the stock size indicator in 2020. The assessment of horse mackerel in Division 9.a was modified due to the lack of the Portuguese demersal survey in autumn 2019. The SSB reached a historical maximum in 2020 of 1 102 627 tonnes. High recruitment since 2011 has contributed to the SSB increase. Fishing mortality, estimated to be 0.028 year -1 in 2019 has been be