Two research vessels have spent a month searching for capelin from Greenland across Icelandic grounds, with disappointing results.
Iceland’s Marine Research Institute has recommended a zero capelin quota for the 2016-2017 season, although research will continue and the recommendation will be revisited in January/February next year when further research into the state of the stock will decide whether or not to advise a quota.
The situation is mirrored in Norway where there is also zero advice for the Barents Sea capelin fishery in 2017.
The Norwegian-Russian management rules call for a capelin quota to be set only when there is a surplus of capelin beyond what is believed to be beyond what the cod feed on – but this year the indications are that there is no such surplus.
‘Research into the capelin stock has shown less juvenile capelin than last year, and most of this is in the Norwegian zone,’ said marine researcher Bjarte Bogstad.
The Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission is to meet 17-20 October and the recommendation from ICES ahead of this meeting is for a zero capelin TAC, as was the case last year and there has been no capelin fishing in the Barents Sea this year.
