Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has advised that the TAC for the 2022-23 capelin season should not exceed 218,400 tonnes.
This replaces the original advice of 400,000, which was based on the volume of juvenile capelin observed during the 2021 autumn survey. Making predictions and recommendations for this migratory, short-lived species is notoriously problematic, and quotas end to continue to be revised right up to the opening of the fishery, and often during the season itself.
This latest advice will be revisited at the end of the Institute’s January-February survey.
The 218,400 tonne figure has been reached on the basis of acoustic surveys carried out in Greenlandic waters by Icelandic research vessel Árni Friðriksson and Greenlandic research vessel Tarajoq from late August to late September. This was an extensive survey, with minimal delays due to adverse weather, although sea ice prevented access to the most northerly part of the area to be surveyed.
The overall volume is estimated at 1,100,000 tonnes, of which the spawning stock is calculated at 763,000 tonnes.
A population of 41 billion juvenile individuals has been estimated, and this figure needs to be 50 billion for an initial recommendation for the 2023-24 season to be made. The data from the juvenile capelin survey will be presented to ICES, which will later this year advice on an initial 2023-24 TAC.
