The message from the Danish Fishermen’s Association as 2025 is about to dawn is that consumers can buy all the cod they need for a New Year dinner, as there is far more of it available than Danes can ever eat themselves.
‘The stories about the death of cod in Denmark are wildly exaggerated. In fact, I would call this a misinformation campaign,’ said Svend-Erik Andersen, the Association’s chairman, commenting that in 2024 Danish fishermen had quotas for more than 6000 tonnes of cod in the North Sea and the Skagerrak – and consumers can put Danish cod on the new year dinner table with a clean conscience, despite dire warnings to the contrary form some quarters.
He added that plaice, haddock, monkfish, whiting and sole are also doing well in Danish waters, although there are problems in some areas and the situation in the Baltic and inner Danish waters is not so bright.
‘When the quotas for next year were set in the run-up to Christmas, I could be optimistic that there will be really good opportunities for Danish fishing next year. There are plenty of fish in the sea. We experience that every single day, and that reflects the assessments of international researchers and the quotas in general,’ he said.
Danish fishermen will be able to catch around 5000 tonnes of cod next year in the North Sea and the Skagerrak next year – which is far more than Danish consumers eat.
However, while this is still a 20% decrease in the quota for next year, this has to be seen in the context of a 15% increase this year.
This reduction in the cod quota comes on the back of a discussion about which cod stocks are migrating and to where. There are believed to be three cod stocks in the North Sea and Skagerrak, all of which are expanding – but in the southern part of the North Sea, cod is under pressure from global warming and rising sea temperatures.
‘International researchers believe that the southern cod stock can be restored to the same level as 25 years ago if we fish less on the northern stocks. We have protested against this together with our colleagues in the other EU countries and Norway and the UK, because we do not believe that this connection exists,’ Svend-Erik Andersen said.
‘But as always, we comply with the quotas that have been set. And the New Year’s message is that there is plenty of cod for the Danish’ New Year’s table. Both this year and next year, and Danish cod is not an endangered species.’
