Length frequency data obtained from market sampling and official landings data were combined to provide a raised annual landings-at-length distribution. Data were averaged over a number of years (2009-2012) and aggregated into 5 mm length classes for brown crab and lobster and 3 mm length classes for velvet crab for use in the LCA. Landings-at-length data were not available for the three species in all assessment areas. The decision-making process to select which areas had sufficient data to run stock assessments is presented in Annex A. Four parameters were defined to categorise the quality of the sampling data: number of trips/animals sampled; number of years for which data is available (maximum 4 years – 2009-2012); sampling seasonality; Length frequency distribution (LFD) shape. For each species/area, these parameters were classified in three categories (“poor”/”ok”/”good”). Stock assessments were not run for areas where one or more of the parameters was classified as “poor”.