Cod capture on a fishing vessel deck. (Photo: Jean Gaumy/Norwegian Seafood Council)

ICES recommends cod quota cut for 2018

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommends a 20 per cent drop in next year’s cod quota in the Barents Sea, which should not exceed 712,000 tonnes.

“We are experiencing a natural decline in Atlantic cod stocks, which we need to take into consideration,” points out the Research Director at the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Geir Huse.

Huse recalls that in recent years, the quotas for Northeast Arctic cod have been at record high levels and that in 2013 the quota peaked when 1,000,000 tonnes could be caught, and the quotas have remained at roughly this level, setting a peak of 890,000 tonnes for 2017.

IMR director stresses that the high quota levels in recent years can mostly be attributed to the good cod year classes for 2004 and 2005.

“We see that the year classes after this weaker, which leads to a natural decline in the stocks,” Huse points out.

For his part, Marine Researcher Bjarte Bogstad, who is the scientist responsible for cod in the Barents Sea, emphasizes that there is a good stock of Northeast Arctic cod there.

“The stock contains many older and large individuals. During this year’s Northeast Arctic cod survey, the Institute of Marine Research caught a coffee cod for the first time,” says Bogstad. A ‘coffee cod’ is a Northeast Arctic cod of over 30 kg. The term was introduced by the Lofotposten newspaper, which offered one kilo of coffee to anyone who caught such a fish.

Meanwhile, Marine Researcher Harald Gjøsæter, Norway’s representative on the ICES Advisory Committee (ACOM), informs that ICES recommends changes to the quotas for several other fish species north of 62° N.

The recommended quota changes include:

• Haddock: from 233,000 tonnes to 202,305 tonnes (-13 per cent);
• Saithe: from 150,000 tonnes to 172,500 tonnes (+15 per cent);
• Greenland halibut: to 23,000 tonnes, which is 1,000 tonnes lower than this year’s quota;
• Beaked redfish: to a maximum of 32,658 tonnes in 2018, compared with 30,000 tonnes this year (+9 per cent).

Gjøsæter states that ICES does not recommend any specific quota for coastal cod north of 62° N but suggest the rebuilding plan for this stock should be followed up.

The final quotas for cod, haddock, beaked redfish and Greenland halibut will be fixed by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission in October, while the saithe quota is fixed by Norway.

The main fish stocks in the Barents Sea are regulated by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission after recommendations from researchers. Quotas for 2018 will be set in a Commission meeting due in October.


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