The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has released its report on the status of North East Atlantic fish stocks in the Barents Sea, around Iceland and the Faroe Islands, in the North Sea and in the Baltic Sea.
The conclusion is that the overall status of the fish stocks has not changed much since last year’s assessment. The biomass of cod in the North Sea, Kattegat, and the Eastern Baltic is still very low and ICES advises no directed fishing.
However, there are some positive developments. Saithe and haddock seem to be abundant across the Northeast Atlantic, so too is sole in Skagerrak and Kattegat.
There are signs of slight improved abundance of cod around Greenland, but still well below the historical levels and the distribution area is limited.
ICES advises no fishing so that a spawning stock can be re-established.
In the North Sea, whiting and herring have produced few young fish over the past five years. This means that catching possibilities will be considerably lower in the future and ICES recommends substantial reductions in TACs.
Redfish fisheries in the Norwegian and Barents Sea are rapidly expanding into international waters. Because the stock size of this fish is low and few young fish have been observed. ICES advises that there should be no directed trawl fishery and this should also apply to international waters.
Baltic salmon is expected to produce fewer adult fish returning to the rivers in the future because the survival of young salmon in the sea is decreasing.
A similar observation of low sea survival was made for North Atlantic salmon.
