Stock of Northeast Arctic cod in the Barents Sea

Last updated 22 March 2024

The spawning stock of Northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua) is currently at a medium level. The Northeast Arctic cod is the largest cod stock in the world.

Status and trend

Both the total stock and the spawning stock have grown since 2006 and peaked in 2013. Since then, there has been a decline, but both the total stock and the spawning stock is still well above the long-term average for 1946-2020. The spawning stock in 2021 was estimated to be 900,000 tonnes. This is far above the action limit set by fisheries management. The spawning stock is important to ensure good recruitment.

Causal factors

The size of the cod stock is influenced by natural conditions, like the sea temperature and the occurrence of predators, in addition to human impacts, where fishing is most important.

The agreed quota for 2024 is 453,427 tonnes. This is identical to the advice from the bilateral Norwegian-Russian research group (JRN-AFWG), which is based on the revised catch rule for 2016.

The total international catch in 2022 was 719,000 tonnes, and the Norwegian catch was 310,000 tonnes. The fishery in 2022 was considered sustainable. Russian catches are roughly at the same level as Norwegian catches. Other cod fishing nations are the Faroe Islands, Great Britain, Spain, Iceland, Greenland, Germany, France, Poland, Portugal, Belarus and Estonia.

About 70% of the annual catch is caught by bottom trawls, the rest with nets, lines, seine nets and jigging.

Consequences

In its recommendation concerning the quota for 2024, JRN-AFWG classified the stock as having good reproductive capacity and being harvested sustainably. The size of the spawning stock has been above the precautionary level since 2002. Fishing mortality has been substantially reduced from well above the critical level in 1999 to below the precautionary level from and including 2008 to 2017. In recent years, it has increased again and in 2022 was well above the precautionary level.

Low fishing pressure has helped to keep the stock at a high level, and additionally, good access to food and relatively high temperatures have contributed to several years of good stocks of cod and haddock in the Barents Sea. However, recruitment to the stocks, especially for cod, has been below average in recent years, and this is the most important reason for the stock decline. The reason for the poor recruitment is not known.

In previous years, an increase in temperature has given the fish a larger habitat and better access to food. But in recent years, the distribution area in the Barents Sea has been reduced. This is due to both lower sea temperatures and a decline in the stock.

About the monitoring

The indicator aims at presenting the size of the spawning stock of Northeast Arctic cod in the Barents Sea over time. The stock is monitored by Norwegian (www.imr.no) and Russian (www.pinro.ru) institutes of marine research. The estimations of spawning stock size are conducted once every year, and is based on historical catch data and data from research cruises.

Norwegian and Russian institutes of marine research contributes through the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), giving advices to the Norwegian-Russian Fishery Commission on management of the stock of Northeast Arctic cod in the Barents Sea.

Further reading