The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) increased its recommendations for total allowable catches (TAC) in the Northeast Atlantic mackerel fishery by 20 percent in 2020.

The body reported that the quota for the species should not exceed 922,064 metric tons in 2020.

The advised catch for 2020 is higher than the updated advice for 2019, which was released earlier this year, because the highest recruitment in the time-series of 2016 and 2017 is now entering the fishery and the spawning stock.

However, the fishery remains stripped of its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification following a recent re-assessment.

Certification groups earlier this month determined after an expedited audit that the fishery failed on key scoring indicators against the MSC standards.

The ongoing dispute over the mackerel quota has resulted in annual harvests above advised levels, certifiers said.

The mackerel fishery's MSC certificate has been suspended since March 2.

The fisheries impacted by the decision include the ISF Iceland mackerel fishery, the Faroese Pelagic Organisation Northeast Atlantic mackerel fishery, the NIPSG Irish Sea-Atlantic mackerel and North Sea herring allocations, and the MINSA North East Atlantic mackerel fishery.

The full advice can be found here.