Fisheries quota proposals for 2012/2013 released
The Marine Research Institute (MRI) in Iceland has published the yearly status report of fish stocks in Icelandic waters.
The MRI is recommending the government to increase the cod quota for the next fishing season 2012/2013, starting September 1st, by 11%. The propsed catch volume is set to be 196,000 metric tons. During the last 10 years, the harvest rate has declined from 34–40% to around 20% and the fishing mortality from above 0.7 in 2000 to 0.28 in 2011. Recruitment during this period has been around 2/3 of the longterm average. The decrease in harvest rate, imposed by management action, has hence been the main reason for the increase in stock size.
The pelagic fisheries are also in good status and the recommendation for the herring spawning quota rises from 40,000 tons to 67,000 tons in the next fishing season.
The MRI recommends that the TAC of saithe for the quota year 2012/2013 should not exceed 49,000 tons. The advice is based on the average between last year’s advice and 20% of the current reference biomass (4+).
The recommendation for haddock quota is 32,000 tons compared to 45,000 tons for the current year. Research suggests that the stock is declining rapidly due to poor recruitment and the situation is not likely to improve for the next year or two at least.
The recommendations for TACs (in tons) for the main species for the fishing year 2012/2013:
| Species name | TAC, metric tons | Latin name |
| Cod | 196,000 | Gadus morhua |
| Saithe | 49,000 | Pollachius virens |
| Haddock | 32,000 | Melanogrammus aeglefinus |
| Golden redfish | 45,000 | Sebastes marinus |
| Greenland halibut | 20,000 | Reinhardtius hippoglossoides |
| Atlantic wolffish | 7,500 | Anarhichas lupus |
| Ling | 12,000 | Molva molva |
| Tusk | 6,700 | Brosme brosme |
| Plaice | 6,500 | Pleuronectes platessa |
| Icelandic herring | 67,000 | Clupea harengus |
An English summary of the status report is available online.