Compilation and quality check of the ICES stock assessment data.
Date: 2017-05-11
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: catch of fish, conservation of fish stocks, data processing, fisheries policy, fishery management, fishery research, research report, resources of the sea

concordance=TRUE

Compilation and quality check of the
ICES stock assessment data

Paris Vasilakopoulos, Ernesto Jardim

2017

EUR 28588 EN

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might be made of this publication.

Contact Information
Name: Paris Vasilakopoulos
Address: Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, TP 051, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
E-mail: paris.vasilakopoulos@ec.europa.eu
Tel.: +39 033278 5714

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JRC106485

EUR 28588 EN

PDF

ISBN 978-92-79-68722-8

ISSN 1831-9424

doi:10.2760/332539

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017

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How to cite: Vasilakopoulos P., Jardim E. (2017); Compilation and quality check of the ICES stock assessment
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Compilation and quality check of the ICES stock assessment data
Abstract
This document describes the compilation and quality checks of the ICES dataset to be used in the CFP indicators
report.

Printed in Italy

Compilation and quality check of the
ICES stock assessment data

Paris Vasilakopoulos, Ernesto Jardim

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

Contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................. 1

1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 2

2. Dataset compilation using the online database.................................................. 2

3. First data quality check.................................................................................. 4

4. Dataset compilation using the graphs dataset ................................................... 5

5. Second data quality check ............................................................................. 6

6. Conclusions ................................................................................................. 12

List of abbreviations and definitions ....................................................................... 13

List of tables ....................................................................................................... 14

Abstract

For the analysis of the CFP indicators for NE Atlantic stocks, stock assessment data had to
be obtained from ICES. These data included time-series of stock size, fishing pressure and
reference points for each stock. This document describes the compilation process of this
dataset, including the data quality checks and corrections that were carried out.Embedded
R code is executed to generate the polished ICES dataset used in the analysis for the CFP
indicators report.

1

1. Introduction

ICES stock assessment data are available from three different sources. The first one is an
online database available as an XML file at http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/StandardGraphsWebServices.
asmx/getListStocks?year=0, hereafter referred to as "online database". The second one
is the stock assessment graphs dataset available as an excel table for each assessment
year at http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/stockList.aspx, hereafter referred to as "graphs
dataset". The third source is the stock summary sheets available as pdf files at http:
//www.ices.dk/community/advisory-process/Pages/Latest-advice.aspx, hereafter referred to
as "summary sheets". For the compilation of the ICES dataset to be analysed in the CFP
indicators report, data from all three sources were investigated.

2. Dataset compilation using the online database

Initially, ICES stock assessment data were extracted from the online database and con-
verted into a table. For this, the functions doit and doitAreas were created and stored
within a funs.R script.

doit <- function(x){

cat(".")
url <- paste("http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/

StandardGraphsWebServices.asmx/getSummaryTable?key=",

x$key[1], sep="")

obj <- getURL(url)
obj <- xmlToList(xmlTreeParse(obj)$doc$children[[1]])
df0 <- as.data.frame(apply(obj$lines, 1, as.numeric))
names(df0) <- unlist(lapply(strsplit(names(df0), "\\."), "[", 1))
#removes potential space after variable name
# META INFO IS NOT ALWAYS THE SAME, SHOULD BE AVOIDED, BREAKS DATA STRUCTURE
df0 <- cbind(df0, do.call("cbind", obj[names(obj)[!names(obj) == "lines"]]))
paste("http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/StandardGraphsWebServices.asmx/
url <-

getFishStockReferencePoints?key=",
x$key, sep="")

obj <- getURL(url)
df0 <- cbind(df0, xmlToDataFrame(obj))
df0 <- melt(df0, id.vars="Year")
df0 <- cbind(df0, x)
return(df0)

}

doitAreas <- function(x){
cat(".")
url <-
paste("http://vocab.ices.dk/services/pox/GetCodeDetail/ices_stockcode/",

x$Key[1], sep="")

ox0 <- getURL(url)
ox0 <- xmlTreeParse(ox0)
ox0 <- xmlToList(ox0$doc$children$GetCodeDetailResponse$children$CodeDetail)
s0 <- data.frame(t(unlist(ox0[1:5])))
a0 <- do.call("rbind", lapply(lapply(ox0[7:length(ox0)],

a1 <- do.call("rbind", lapply(lapply(ox0[7:length(ox0)],

"[", "Code"), unlist))

"[", "CodeType"), unlist))

a0 <- a0[a1[,"CodeType.Key"]=="ICES_Area",]
p0 <- data.frame(t(unlist(ox0[[6]]$Code)))
s0 <- data.frame(s0, p0)
if(is.null(nrow(a0))){

ox <- data.frame(s0, t(a0))

} else {

s0 <- s0[rep(1, nrow(a0)),]
ox <- cbind(s0, a0)

2

}
ox <- ox[,c("Key", "Description", "Description.1", "Code.Key",

"Code.Description")]

names(ox) <- c("stock", "stockDescription", "species", "area",

"areaDescription")

return(ox)

}

Using the functions doit and doitAreas, a dataset was created containg the most recent

stock assessment data for each unique stock code.

library(XML)
library(RCurl)
library(reshape)
library(reshape2)
source("funs.R")
yr <- 2016

#==============================================================================
# Stock assessment information
#==============================================================================

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# get stocks list
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stks <- getURL("http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/

StandardGraphsWebServices.asmx/getListStocks?year=0")

stks <- xmlToDataFrame(stks)
# remove unpublished and "Psetta maxima (historic name) North Sea"
stks <- subset(stks, Status!="Not Published")
stks <- subset(stks, SpeciesName!="Psetta maxima (historic name)")
# get most recent assessment
stks <- lapply(split(stks, as.character(stks$FishStockName)), function(x)

subset(x, x$AssessmentYear==max(as.numeric(as.character(x$AssessmentYear)))))

# checks (both evaluate to TRUE when is ok)
sum(unlist(lapply(stks, nrow)))==length(stks)
sum(apply(table(do.call("rbind", stks)[,c("key","AssessmentYear")]), 1, sum)>1)==0

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# get summary and RP with doit
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
stks <- lapply(stks, function(x) try(doit(x)))
stks <- do.call("rbind", stks[!unlist(lapply(stks, is , "try-error"))])
# cast for report

# vars for report

vars <- c("SSB", "landings", "F", "catches", "discards")
cond <- c("Fage", "FLim", "Fpa", "Bpa", "Blim", "FMSY", "MSYBtrigger", "units",

"stockSizeDescription", "stockSizeUnits", "fishingPressureDescription",
"fishingPressureUnits", "MSYBescapement", "Fmanagement", "Bmanagement")

# if no assessment use NA

foo <- function(x){

if(length(x)==0) x <- NA
if(length(x)>1) x <- x[1]
x <- as.character(x)
return(x)

}
stks4report <- dcast(subset(stks, variable %in% c(vars, cond)), ... ~variable, fun=foo)
save(stks4report, file="stks4report.Rdata")

3

3. First data quality check

The generated dataset was examined for possible duplications, stock name changes, or
stock merges. Accordingly, the following stocks were removed:

(cid:136) bss-47 assessed in 2014, because it was also assessed in 2016 as Bss-47.

(cid:136) had-34 and had-scow assessed in 2013, because they were assessed as a single stock

in 2016 (had-346a).

(cid:136) her-irlw and her-vian assessed in 2014, because they were assessed as a single stock

in 2016 (her-67bc).

(cid:136) Nop-34-june assessed in 2014, because it was also assessed in 2016 as nop-34-oct.

(cid:136) her-31 assessed in 2015, because it was also assessed in 2016 as Her-31.

load("stks4report.Rdata")
#Removal of non-relevant stocks
#(all 2013 and 2014 assesment year stocks are dropped - except "smn-arct"
#due to duplications, splits, merges)
stks4report<-stks4report[stks4report$AssessmentYear=="2016"|

stks4report$AssessmentYear=="2015"|
stks4report$FishStockName=="smn-arct",]

#remove duplicate her-31 entry
stks4report<-stks4report[stks4report$FishStockName!="her-31",]

ICES has identified 6 categories of data-limited stocks ranging from analytically assessed
data-rich stocks (Category 1) to negligible landings stocks (Category 6). For the CFP indi-
cators report, only stocks from Categories 1-3 had to be considered. Therefore, ICES was
asked to provide us with a list with the Category of each stock. Based on that list, stocks
of Categories 4-6 were removed from the dataset.

#Remove stocks of categories 4+ (Identified by ICES)
stks4report<-stks4report[!stks4report$FishStockName%in% c("alf-comb","bli-oth",
"hom-nsea","nep-10","nep-34","rjh-7afg","bss-8c9a","bss-wosi","Nep-32","nep-33",
"nep-5","nep-oth-6a","nep-oth-7", "ory-comb","pan-flad","ple-7b-c","ple-89a",
"pol-89a","pol-nsea","raj-89a","raj-celt","rhg-nea","rjb-34","rjb-89a",
"rjc-echw","rje-ech","rjf-celt","rjh-4aVI","rjh-4c7d","rjh-7e","rji-celt",
"rng-1012","rng-kask","rng-oth","san-ns5","san-ns6","san-ns7","sbr-678","sbr-x",
"sol-7b-c","spr-celt","usk-mar","usk-rock","whg-89a"),]
stks4report$FishStockName<-droplevels(stks4report$FishStockName)
nlevels(stks4report$FishStockName)

## [1] 176

# final number of stocks retained
# stocks retained were 176 on 03/03/2017 when the dataset was last updated

The final dataset was compared with the graphs dataset and the summary sheets to

investigate data consistency, and a number of issues emerged:

(cid:136) For some stocks, data relevant to the analysis, such as stock size, fishing pressure and
reference points appeared in custom columns within the graphs dataset, while their
dedicated columns were empty. These custom column values could not be extracted
from the online database.

(cid:136) In the online database, some stock size values were excessively rounded to single
digits with no decimals, hence they were not nformative. The graphs dataset and
summary sheets contained unrounded values.

(cid:136) For quite a few stocks, especially Category 3 stocks, stock size description, fishing
pressure description, and their respective units were wrong in both the online database
and the graphs dataset.

4

(cid:136) Some discrepancies in the reported values between the different datasets were iden-

tified, as well as discrepancies in the naming of some stocks.

(cid:136) When the dataset was first compiled (18/01/2017) 33 stocks with available summary

sheets were absent from both the online database and the graphs dataset.

All these issues were brought to the attention of ICES on 18/01/2017 and their assistance
was seeked. By 02/02/2017, 26 of the 33 missing stocks had been added to both the online
database and the graphs dataset. The 7 stocks that remained missing were all Category
3 stocks, namely: ang-ivvi; arg-123a4; arg-5b6a; fle-nsea; mur-347d; sar-78 and whg-
iris. These 7 stocks were expected to be added by the end of March, and they were not
included in the analysed dataset. Taking into consideration the issues mentioned above, it
was decided to use the graphs dataset instead of the online database, in order to tackle
the issues with excessive rounding and data available in custom columns.

4. Dataset compilation using the graphs dataset

The excel tables containing stock assessment data for 2014, 2015 and 2016 were down-
loaded from http://standardgraphs.ices.dk/stockList.aspx. The 2016 dataset was used as
a starting point. Stocks assessed in 2014-2015 that had been identified as relevant during
the previous data compilation process from the online database were then added manually.
Also, Category and Ecoregion were added for each stock.

’

’

, header=TRUE)

../../2017/ICES_stks_fromGraphs_17.02.csv

#loading the adjusted graphs dataset
stks<-read.csv(
#remove - again - stocks of category 4+ (relevant to 2016 stocks)
stks<-stks[!stks$FishStock%in% c("alf-comb","bli-oth","hom-nsea",
"nep-10","nep-34","rjh-7afg","bss-8c9a","bss-wosi","Nep-32","nep-33","nep-5",
"nep-oth-6a","nep-oth-7","ory-comb","pan-flad","ple-7b-c","ple-89a","pol-89a",
"pol-nsea","raj-89a","raj-celt","rhg-nea","rjb-34","rjb-89a","rjc-echw",
"rje-ech","rjf-celt","rjh-4aVI","rjh-4c7d","rjh-7e","rji-celt","rng-1012",
"rng-kask","rng-oth","san-ns5","san-ns6","san-ns7","sbr-678","sbr-x",
"sol-7b-c","spr-celt","usk-mar","usk-rock","whg-89a"),]
stks$FishStock<-droplevels(stks$FishStock)
nlevels(stks$FishStock)#176 stocks retained - same with online database

## [1] 176

#A file containing only FishStock, Category (1-3) and Ecoregion information
#was merged with the graphs dataset
stks2<-read.csv(
stks3<-merge(stks,stks2,by="FishStock")

../../2017/ICES_Cat&Eco.csv

, header=TRUE)

’

’

The final ICES dataset to be analysed contained 147 stocks assessed in 2016, 28 stocks
assessed in 2015, and 1 stock assessed in 2014. The dataset included 91 Category 1
stocks, 2 Category 2 stocks, and 83 Category 3 stocks.

stks16<-stks[stks$AssessmentYear == "2016",]
stks16$FishStock<-droplevels(stks16$FishStock)
nlevels(stks16$FishStock)

## [1] 147

stks15<-stks[stks$AssessmentYear == "2015",]
stks15$FishStock<-droplevels(stks15$FishStock)
nlevels(stks15$FishStock)

## [1] 28

stks14<-stks[stks$AssessmentYear == "2014",]
stks14$FishStock<-droplevels(stks14$FishStock)
nlevels(stks14$FishStock)

5

## [1] 1

stksc1<-stks3[stks3$Category == "1",]
stksc1$FishStock<-droplevels(stksc1$FishStock)
nlevels(stksc1$FishStock)

## [1] 91

stksc2<-stks3[stks3$Category == "2",]
stksc2$FishStock<-droplevels(stksc2$FishStock)
nlevels(stksc2$FishStock)

## [1] 2

stksc3<-stks3[stks3$Category == "3",]
stksc3$FishStock<-droplevels(stksc3$FishStock)
nlevels(stksc3$FishStock)

## [1] 83

#write.csv(stks3, "ICESstks_polished_v2.csv")

5. Second data quality check

Using the graphs dataset instead of the online database to extract ICES stock assessment
data solved some of the issues identified during the first data quality check: there were no
overly rounded values, and values contained in custom columns became available. How-
ever, data relevant to the analysis which were available in custom columns still had to
be moved to the right columns manually. Also, manual corrections of stock size descrip-
tion, fishing pressure description, and of their respective units had to be made for several
stocks. All issues and manual corrections carried out on the dataset prior to the analysis
are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1: The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and the actions taken
to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI: Abundance index

Stock
ane-bisc

Category
1

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

1

arg-icel

arg-rest

bli-5a14

bll-nsea

boc-nea

bsf-nea

Bss-8ab

cap-bars

Continued on
next page

Issues
Wrong fishing pressure de-
scription
Fproxy and Fmsyproxy in
custom columns

Actions
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Fproxy and Fmsyproxy added
to fishing pressure and Fmsy
columns respectively

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Fmsyproxy
Fproxy
available in custom columns

and

(BI in kg/h)
Fproxy and Fmsyproxy added
to fishing pressure and Fmsy
columns respectively

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Stock size in Tbiomass col-
umn. Stock size description
wrongly worded
Wrong stock size descrip-
tion. No url link to the re-
port included in the graphs
dataset
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/day)
Stock size added to the correct
column.
Stock size description
corrected (Relative TSB)
Stock size description corrected
(AI in millions). Url link added

Stock size in custom column Stock size added and units cor-

rected (million t)

(BI in kg/day)

6

Table 1: The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and the actions taken
to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI: Abundance index

Stock
cod-2532

Category
3

3

3

1

3

3

1

3

3

3

1

3

3

1

3

3

1

1
3

cod-coas

cod-farb

cod-iceg

cod-ingr

cod-kat

cod-scow

cod-segr

cod-wgr

dab-nsea

dgs-nea

gfb-comb

gug-347d

had-iceg

had-iris

Her-31

her-47d3

her-noss
jaa-10

Continued on
next page

Issues
Stock size in custom col-
umn.
Stock size and
fishing pressure description
wrongly worded
Fmanagement and Bmnage-
ment absent (available in
summary sheet)
Stock size and HR in cus-
tom columns. Wrong stock
size and fishing pressure de-
scription
HR and HRmsy in custom
columns.
Stock size and
fishing pressure description
wrong

size

description

Stock
wrongly worded
Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure description

Actions
Stock size added.Stock size and
fishing pressure descriptions cor-
rected (BI in kg/h; Relative HR)

Fmanagement and Bmnagement
added

Stock size and HR added. Stock
size and fishing pressure descrip-
tions corrected (BI in kg/h; HR)

HR and HRmsy added to fish-
ing pressure and Fmsy columns
respectively.
Stock size and
fishing pressure descriptions cor-
rected (SSB; HR)
Stock size description corrected
(BI in kg/100h)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)
Data from the 2015 assessment
used instead

Data available from a 2016
assessment that was not of-
ficially approved by ICES
Stock
description
size
wrongly worded. Fmanage-
ment in custom column
size
Stock
wrongly worded
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Stock size description corrected
(BI in t). Fmanagement added

Stock size description corrected
(BI in t)

description

HRmsy in custom column.
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/h)
HRmsy added to the Fmsy col-
umn. Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (TSB
and HR)

(Relative BI)
Stock size description corrected
(BI in kg/h)
HR, Hrmsy and HRmgt added
to fishing pressure, FMSY and
Fmanagement columns respec-
tively. Fishing pressure descrip-
tion corrected (HR)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (F)
Fmanagement added
Stock size description corrected
(BI in kg/day)

size

description

Stock
wrongly worded
HR and HR ref points in cus-
tom columns

Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Fishing pressure description
wrongly worded
Fmanagement missing
Stock
size
wrongly worded

description

7

Table 1: The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and the actions taken
to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI: Abundance index

Stock
lem-nsea

Category
3

Issues
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Actions

3

3

3

1

3

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

3

1

1

1

1

lin-arct

lin-faro

lin-oth

mac-nea

meg-rock

nep-11

nep-12

nep-13

nep-15

nep-16

nep-17

nep-19

nep-2021

nep-22

nep-2324

nep-2829

nep-3-4

nep-6

nep-7

nep-8

Continued on
next page

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/1000hooks)

(BI in kg/day)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/h)

(BI in kg/1000hooks)
Url link added

HR added to fishing pressure col-
umn. Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (BI in
t; HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Fishing pressure description cor-
rected (HR)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)

Stock size description corrected
(BI in kg/h)
Stock size description corrected
(abundance in millions)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR). HR and
HRmsy added to fishing pressure
and Fmsy columns respectively
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)

No url link to the report in-
cluded in the graphs dataset
custom column.
HR
Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

in

Wrong fishing pressure de-
scription
Wrong fishing pressure de-
scription
Wrong fishing pressure de-
scription
Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

Fishing pressure description
wrongly worded
Fishing pressure description
wrongly worded
Fishing pressure description
wrongly worded
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure
description wrongly
worded. Wrong stock size
units
Stock
wrongly worded
Stock
wrongly worded
Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

description

description

size

size

Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions. No
HR ref points

Wrong stock size and fishing
pressure descriptions

8

Table 1: The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and the actions taken
to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI: Abundance index

Stock
nep-9

Category
1

pan-barn

1

1

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

pan-sknd

ple-2432

ple-7h-k

ple-celt

ple-echw

ple-iris

raj-mar

rjc-347d

rjc-7afg

rjc-bisc

rjc-pore

rjc-VI

rje-7fg

rjh-pore

rjm-347d

rjm-67bj

rjm-7aeh

rjm-bisc

rjm-pore

rjn-34

rjn-678abd

rjn-8c

Continued on
next page

size

description
Wrong

Actions
Stock size description and fishing
pressure units corrected (abun-
dance in millions; HR)

Issues
Stock
wrongly worded.
fishing pressure units
Found as 'pand-brn' in sum-
mary sheets. B/Bmsy rather
than absolute values of SSB
in summary sheets, but not
in the graphs dataset
Found as
summary sheets
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Stock size in custom column Stock size added Stock size de-

Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)

'pand-skdn'

in

Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

scription added (Relative BI)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)

(Relative AI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

(AI in n/h)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(AI in n/km2)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

(AI in n/h)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

(Relative BI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(AI in n/km2)

(AI in n/h)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/haul)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

(BI in kg/h)

9

Table 1: The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and the actions taken
to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI: Abundance index

Stock
rjn-pore

Category
3

Issues
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Actions

rjr-234

rju-ech

rng-5b67

sai-arct
sai-icel

san-ns4

sar-soth
smn-dp

sol-7h-k

syc-347d

syc-8c9a

syc-bisc

syc-celt

syt-celt

trk-nea

tur-kask

tur-nsea

usk-arct

usk-oth

wit-nsea

3

3

1

1
1

3

1
2

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

Stock size and fishing pres-
sure
description wrongly
worded
Fmanagement missing
HR and HRmsy in custom
columns. Wrong stock size
and fishing pressure de-
scriptions

(BI in t)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (TB/Bmsy;
HR/HRmsy)
Fmanagement added
HR and HRmsy added to fish-
ing pressure and Fmsy columns
respectively.
Stock size and
fishing pressure descriptions cor-
rected (SSB; HR)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

MGT Btrig in custom column MGT Btrig added in Bmanagement
Stock size and fishing pressure
Wrong stock size and fishing
descriptions corrected (Relative
pressure description
SSB; Relative F)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)

Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative BI)

(Relative AI)

(Relative AI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(AI in n/h)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

Stock size and fishing pres-
sure descriptions wrongly
worded
Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(Relative AI)
Stock size and fishing pressure
descriptions corrected (Relative
SSB; Relative F)

(BI in kg/1000hooks)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/1000hooks)

Wrong stock size description Stock size description corrected

(BI in kg/h)

The different stock size and fishing pressure descriptions used in the final dataset are

presented in Tables 2 and 3 respectively.

10

Table 2: Explanation of the different stock size descriptions used in the ICES dataset

Stock size description

Details

Typical units

Abundance

SSB

Stock

TSB
Maturing
Biomass
B/Bmsy
TSB/Bmsy
Abundance Index

stock

Estimated number of
individuals
Spawning
biomass
Total stock biomass
Maturing stock esti-
mated in October
SSB divided by Bmsy
TSB divided by Bmsy
Number-based CPUE

Biomass Index

Weight-based CPUE

millions; billions

tonnes

tonnes
tonnes

n/h;

millions;
n/km2
tonnes; kg/time;
kg/haul and oth-
ers

Relative AI

Relative AI (comb)

Relative BI

Relative BI (comb)

Relative SSB

Relative TSB

Abundance index rela-
tive to the mean of the
time-series
Mean of multiple rela-
tive abundance indices
Biomass index relative
to the mean of
the
time-series
Mean of multiple rela-
tive biomass indices
SSB relative to the
mean of
the time-
series
TSB relative to the
mean of
the time-
series

stock

Typical
category
1 (Nephrops
stocks)
1

1
1 (cap-bars)

1
1 (rng-5b67)
3

3

3

3

3

3

2; 3

3 (boc-nea)

Table 3: Explanation of the different fishing pressure descriptions used in the ICES dataset

Fishing pressure description Details
F

F/Fmsy
Fproxy

Harvest Rate

Harvest Rate/Fmsy

Relative F

weighted F

(mean
Fishing mortality
over main exploited age-
classes)
F divided by Fmsy
A proxy of F (catch divided
by survey index)
Catch divided by biomass or
biomass index
Harvest
Fmsy
F relative to the mean of the
time-series
F divided by population
numbers

rate divided by

Typical stock category
1

1
3

1; 3

1 (rng-5b67)

2; 3

1 (her-noss)

11

6. Conclusions

This document has described the compilation and quality checks of the ICES stock assess-
ment dataset. This dataset was used in other analysis for the CFP indicators report.

12

List of abbreviations and definitions

CFP Common Fisheries Policy

ICES International Council for the Exploration of the Sea

13

List of tables

Table 1. The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and
the actions taken to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI:
Abundance index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table 1. The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and
the actions taken to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI:
Abundance index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table 1. The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and
the actions taken to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI:
Abundance index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table 1. The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and
the actions taken to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI:
Abundance index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table 1. The main issues identified during the compilation of the ICES dataset and
the actions taken to correct them. HR: harvest rate; BI: Biomass index; AI:
Abundance index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table 2. Explanation of the different stock size descriptions used in the ICES dataset
Table 3. Explanation of the different fishing pressure descriptions used in the ICES
dataset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6

7

8

9

10
11

11

14

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doi:10.2760/332539 

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