North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization | est 1984

Evidence Base

Scientific Advice from ICES

NASCO seeks to base its management measures on the best available scientific information.

The ICES Working Group on North Atlantic Salmon (WGNAS) is responsible for the annual assessment of the status of salmon stocks across the North Atlantic. NASCO asks WGNAS to provide catch advice, subsequently agreed by the Advisory Committee (ACOM), for both the Faroes and West Greenland fisheries.

WGNAS also develops advice on a wide range of other issues to support NASCO in exercising its responsibilities for the conservation, restoration, enhancement, and rational management of wild salmon in the North Atlantic.

Figure 1: Total reported catch of salmon (tonnes, round fresh weight) in four North Atlantic regions, 1960-2022 (top) and 1998-2022 (bottom).

Source: CNL(23)08

The ‘Report of the ICES Advisory Committee’ from previous years, and NASCO’s annual ‘Request for Scientific Advice from ICES’ can be found on the Annual Meeting Pages.

Memorandum of Understanding

Advice is provided annually by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), under the Memorandum of Understanding between NASCO and ICES.