The assessments presented in this report are carried out using the best catch data available to ICES. These data are not necessarily identical with the official statistics but, where appropriate, include estimates of unreported landings as well as corrections for misallocation of catches by area and species. Despite considerable effort exerted on this problem, there is no guarantee that all instances of misreporting were discovered. Often the catch data used by ICES are collated on a stock rather than an area basis, and so straightforward comparisons between these figures and the official statistics, which are provided on an area basis, are not appropriate. In the assessments, ICES tries to estimate the total catch taken, including slipped catches, discards, landings which are not officially reported, and the composition of the industrial by-catches. These amounts of different species, which have to be included in the estimates of what has been taken from a given stock in order for the assessments to be correct, thus appear in the tables and figures in this report. These levels of discards, slipped fish, unreported landings, and industrial by-catches vary considerably between different stocks and fisheries, being negligible in some cases and constituting important parts of the total removal from other stocks. The catch data used in the assessments are given in the "table" section of this report. In cases where there might be doubt, it has been indicated if discards, by-catches, and estimates of unreported landings are included in the assessments. Estimates of catches landed as by-catches, especially from the industrial fisheries, are included in the assessments wherever data allow it and are included in the catch options. It should be noted that, in general, catches in the industrial fisheries of protected species above the minimum landing size which are sorted and landed for human consumption, are included in the estimates of human consumption landings, both in the catch input data and in the projected catch options. Estimates of industrial by-catches cover, in most cases, that part of the by-catch which is used for reduction purposes.
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