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In 2014, ICES, the scientific fisheries adviser to the Commission advised an 80% cut in all sea bass catches as the state of the stock had worsened and was going to continue worsening due to a small spawning stock.
Nevertheless, the EU Member States failed to agree on any management measures at the EU Fisheries Council meeting in December 2014.
Thereafter, the UK government requested some emergency measures to be taken to address pelagic fisheries targeting sea bass from January to April 2015 in order to protect the sea bass spawning aggregations. The European Commission has accepted this request with some small modifications. E.g. the concerned area was extended to include the dark blue areas in the map below.
The emergency trawl fisheries ban took effect on the 28th January until the end of April 2015.
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