Dr. Ciaran Kelly:

At the moment the ICES advice is for a decrease in catches of 2%. They advised a similar level of catch in the previous year. That level is based on an average harvest rate applied to the state of the stock including the incoming year classes or recruitment that comes in. It is a calculation exercise that is done looking backwards. The stock is still relatively high at the moment and in a good state. The levels of catch are being maintained by the high levels of recruitment that we have. If the recruitment coming into the stock were to decrease back to what the scientists would say we should expect on average, the stock will decrease more rapidly. At the moment there is only a small decrease in the stock.