New quota advice for the Barents Sea – lowest quota for cod and haddock since 2003 – news Troms and Finnmark

The quota recommendations apply to skrei (cod), haddock, blue halibut and redfish, and were presented by the Norwegian-Russian research group for fish stocks in the Barents Sea at the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø on Friday. For cod, the quota council is set at 311,587 tonnes – down by 31 per cent from this year’s quota and council. Also for haddock, the quota council is reduced considerably. 106,912 tonnes is a reduction of 24 percent from this year’s quota and by 16 percent from the quota council in 2024. For cod, the lowest catch level is proposed since 1991. The quota council is also the lowest for both cod and haddock since 2003. Reduced spawning stock – The spawning stock for skrei has been adjusted down and will fall below the precautionary level in 2025. That is why the quota council is also decreasing so much, says researcher Bjarte Bogstad at the Institute of Marine Research. The quota council for skrei has been adjusted down by 20 per cent in the last three years, which is related to the fact that the spawning stock for cod has decreased since the peak year of 2013. The weakest year classes are 2019 and 2020 – which will seriously enter the fishery next year, hence the reduction. – Serious – This is serious for the entire fishing industry, says Kyrre Dale, director of industry at Sjømat Norge. Norway’s largest seafood organization nevertheless supports the scientifically based quota councils. – The resource situation we now find ourselves in is very serious for the fishing industry. Next year can be challenging for both the fleet and the industry. It is then necessary for the entire value chain to manage the fish we have at our disposal well. There will hardly be enough fish for everyone, says Dale. Improvement underway for redfish and halibut going forward, however, it looks somewhat brighter. The spawning stock from and including 2021 shows a positive development, especially for haddock, where researcher Bogstad expects an upward adjustment for 2026. For proboscis and blue halibut, two-year quota advice is given since these are long-lived stocks. For proboscis, the reduction is 4 per cent with a quota council of 67,191 tonnes for 2025 and 67,191 tonnes for 2026. For blue halibut, the quota council of 12,431 tonnes in 2025 and 14,891 tonnes for 2026 is a sharp reduction of 42 per cent from the quota and 20 per cent for the councils that apply for 2024. – New recruitment is on its way into the fishery, but it will take a few years before this contributes to the spawning population of female fish, says Bogstad. Published 21.06.2024, at 13.14 Updated 21.06.2024, at 13.25



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