Slight increase in advice for Northeast Arctic cod

On Friday the Norwegian-Russian scientific working group (JRN-AFWG) for fish stocks in the Barents Sea released its quota advice for the Barents Sea stocks.

Slight increase in Northeast Arctic cod advice

They advise that catches for Northeast Arctic cod should not exceed 312 667 tonnes in 2027. This advice is 16% higher than the advice for 2026, and 10% higher than the quota in 2026.

The advice increased because the 2021 yearclass is on the way into the fishable biomass. This yearclass is of moderate strength, and higher than the previous yearclasses says the Bjarte Bogstad, the stock responsible scientist at IMR. Apart from the previous two years, this is the lowest the quota advice since 2003.

Read the full report here.

Continued weak recruitment

Even though the advice is slightly increased this year, the cod stock is still in a period of low recruitment of young fish. The yearclasses  2020 and 2023-2024 are weak. The 2021 yearclass was average and the 2022 yearclass somewhat below average.

Indications are that the 2025 yearclass is also below average, says Bogstad.

The average age at which cod breed for the first time is 7 years old. This means that there will be little increase in the breeding stock (the so-called “Spawning Stock Biomass”) before 2028. The development of the fishery, and the fish stock, in the coming years will be strongly dependent on the average 2021 yearclass.

Increase for haddock and Greenland halibut

The scientists also proposed an increase in advice for haddock and Greenland halibut.

For Northeast Arctic haddock, the scientific advice is that catches should not exceed 180 336 tonnes in 2027. This is 18% higher than the advice and quota for 2026.

The yearclasses for 2021-2025 are all average or above average. These are now entering the fishery and this supports higher catches than in previous years, says Bogstad. But it is important not to fish these yearclasses too early, as this would reduce the overall catch by not exploiting their full growth potential.

Researchers advise that Greenland halibut catches in 2027 should not exceed 19 610 tonnes. This is 3% higher than the quota in 2026, and 32% higher than the advice for 2026. Good yearclasses are on their way into the fishable stock, says Bogstad. As with haddock, fishing hard on these incoming yearclasses too early will reduce the future catches from the fishery.

Greenland halibut is a long lived stock, and marine researchers therefore give advice for two years at a time. For 2028 the advice is that the quota should not exceed 19 914 tonnes. In the long term, the research suggests that a catch of around 20 000 tonnes will give a stable breeding stock level.

Slight decrease for beaked redfish

The advice is for a small decline in the catch of beaked redfish. For 2027 the advice is that the catch should not exceed 67 090 tonnes. This is 3% down on the quota and advice for 2026.

Capelin advice will come as usual in October