Dr. Ciaran Kelly:

On herring, as I understand it, and I do not have the record here in front of me, herring was again a precautionary TAC instituted in the case where the stock was at a very low rate. That TAC was set such that there could be a limited fishery on herring. That was the basis for the TAC that was set for north-west herring for a number of years. It would not be set on the basis of trying to exploit the stock at maximum sustainable yield because the stock was not in good condition. It was done in order that some information would come through. If one suspends fishing on a stock, in some cases, one can end up with limited information which hampers an assessment in the long term.