The Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has published its advice for the 2026-27 quota year. This includes a positive recommendation for a 358,044-tonne capelin fishery, an increase for golden redfish, but reductions for other groundfish species.
The advice for capelin is an 81% increase on the recommendation for the last quota year. The capelin figures are provisional and will be updated following the autunm research survey.
The instituet also recommends a 1% reduction in the cod TAC to 201,674 tonnes, with a recommendation that the overall cod catch should not increase over the coming two to three years. The 2021 and 2022 year classes are assessed as below average, while the 2019-2021 year classes are judged to be slow-growing, which is believed to be linked to the low capelin stock in recent years.
The Institute advised a 20% reduction in haddock to 63,206 tonnes and a 16% reduction for saithe, while recommending a 5% increase in golden redfish to 43,319 tonnes. The zero-catch recommendation for deep redfish is maintained and the advice for Greenland halibut is virtually unchanged at 21,079 tonnes.
The institute recommends a 22% reduction in the quota for Icelandic summer-spawning herring.
