Iceland’s Marine Research Institute has advised allocation of a 54,200 tonne capelin quota for the 2020-21 season in an update to its December advice.
The current advice is based on results from acoustic surveys, one carried out in December last year and the combined results of two January surveys.
Earlier surveys were hampered by the presence of sea ice in the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland. The earlier January survey returned results indicating a smaller presence of capelin than in December, while a second survey carried out this month in an area off the east coast showed a 319,000 tonne volume, judged to be a distinct amount of capelin not identified in the previous acoustic survey.
Pelagic vessels Ásgrímur Halldórsson and Polar Amaroq carried out surveys on the Institute’s behalf off the east coast while Bjarni Ólafsson was used to establish the extent of the capelin distribution and Venus surveyed an area to the west of the main survey area.
Poor weather conditions prevented establishing the volume and distribution of capelin further to the north.
Further survey work is expected to be carried out in the coming week to examine areas to the north and north-west. According to the Institute, the hope is that this additional survey work will make it possible to determine the extent of the capelin stock, and for its advice to be updated.
