Northeast arctic cod stock and fishery dynamics

• Main Author: Oleg Bulatov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-01
• Series: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Subjects: Conservation of Natural Resources; Fisheries; Rational management; NE Artic; Cod Stock
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00231/full

Northeast arctic cod stock is one of a most valuable target of fisheries in the Barents Sea. The catches of cod for the period 1960-2014 are widely changed. The minimum level of catches is marked in 1990 (212 thousands ton), and the maximum values of catches were observed in 1969 – 1.2 mill. ton. In the recent years international catch of cod exceeded 1 mill. ton. Fishable and spawning stock biomass (SSB) also widely changed in this period. According to ICES data, SSB had a minimum in 1965 (102 thousand tons), and extremely high level in 2013 – 2 150 thousand tons. Fishable biomass changed also widely. The maximum level is registered in 2013 – 3 636 thousand tons, and minimum value was 5 times less, 739 thousand tons (1983). The ratio between historical high level of SSB and catch in 2013 was 2.2:1.0, due to low value of fishing mortality. Possibility to increase catch will be discussed.