Atlantic cod

Icelandic cod is assumed to be a single stock unit, but a degree of exchange of larvae among Icelandic and Greenlandic waters appears likely and has been shown to occur among adult cod. An estimate of immigration of the 2003 year-class from Greenland is taken into account in the assessment (ICES, 2012a; 2015a,b).

The analytical assessment used is a forward-based statistical catch-at-age model, implemented in the AD model builder (refer to as ADCAM). The input in the analytical assessment for 2015 was catch at age 1955—2014 and spring ground-fish survey indices at age from 1985-2015 and fall survey groundfish survey indices at age from 1996—2014. This framework has been the basis for the advice since 2002. Discards are negligible (around 1% of landings, estimated from high grading occurrences) and were not included in the assessment.

The assessment is considered consistent (ICES, 2015a). There is some uncertainty on the assessment, as using different assumptions gives significantly different a reference biomass estimates (stock biomass of 4 year and older cod, used in the harvest control rule for estimating the TAC), ranging from 1100 to 1370 thousand tones for 2015. However, the framework used last year showed similar diagnostics as that observed last years, therefore the North-Western Working Group (NWWG) of the ICES considered premature to base the advice this year on an alternative model or assumption. The ADCAM model (tuned with the spring and the fall surveys) was used as the final point estimator, resulting in a reference biomass of 1302 thousand tones in 2015 and the fishing mortality 0.28 in 2014 (ICES, 2015b).

In 2010, ICES started a transition to a Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach for scientific advice (ICES, 2010c). In this transition period, ICES scientific advice will provide catch options according to the ICES MSY approach, the precautionary approach (PA), and the managing plan.

The current advice is based on the 2009 management plan that is in conformity with both the ICES MSY framework. Considering that the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) is above MSY Btrigger and applying a Harvest Control Rule (HCR) of 0.2, landings are advised at 239,000 tons in the fishing year 2015/2016. This is expected to increase the SSB by 6%, corresponding to 589,000 tons in 2016 (ICES, 2015a). Projections suggest that if the HCR is followed the stock should remain the current stock condition (MRI, 2015a).

ICES and the Marine Research Institute emphasizes the necessity of subtracting all expected catches from other sources (catches of the foreign fleets, transfer between species and seasons and special quotas) prior to allocating quota to the Icelandic fleet that is under the ITQ control to avoid TAC overshoot (IRM, 2015a; ICES, 2015b). Expected catches by foreign fleets and other catches not subject to TAC are not quantified but were estimated to be 12,000 tons (5% of landings) in 2013/2014 (ICES, 2014b).

Last updated on 09 Dec 2014

The Government of Iceland has adopted a management plan for the Icelandic cod stock for the next five fishing years, starting by the 2009/2010 fishing season. Although the 5 year period of the management plan has ended, the reference points within the plan are still used for providing scientific advice and the harvest control rule established in the plan is considered for setting the TAC (ICES, 2015a; IRF, 2015).

B_lim is set at 125,000 tons and MSY Btrigger at 220,000 tons (MRI, 2012; ICES, 2015a,b). The harvest rate target in the management control rule (landings being equal to 20% of the reference biomass, B4+) and the target SSB of 220,000 tons, have been evaluated by ICES and are in conformity with the ICES MSY approach (ICES, 2013a,b). Precautionary reference points have never been set for this stock (ICES, 2015b).

The reference biomass (B4+,2015) is estimated to be 1,302,000 tons, the highest observed since the late 1970’s. The spawning stock (SSB2015) is estimated to be 547,000 tons and is higher than has been observed over the last five decades and is above Blim and MSY Btrigger. Fishing mortality, being 0.28 in 2014, has declined significantly in recent years and is the lowest observed in last 6 decades (ICES, 2015b).

Since recruitment during the last decade has been below average, it is clear that the increase in stock is due to decreased effort (IRM, 2015). There is some uncertainty with respect to the extent of the increase in the biomass and reduction in fishing mortality in recent years due to conflicts of model assumptions (ICES, 2015b).

Low values of mean weight at age and catches, observed during 2006/2008, have been increasing in recent years and are now around the long term mean (ICES, 2015b). The 2008, 2009 and 2011 year classes are estimated to be at or above the long term average, but 2010, 2012 and 2013 year classes are below average (ICES, 2014a). Initial sampling indicates that the 2014 cohort will likely be above average (IRM, 2015a).

Landings are at around 225,000 tons; the proportion taken by trawls and gillnets have been decreasing and by longliners tripled in the last 20 years, sharing respectively around 44%, 9% and 36% in 2014 (ICES, 2015a).  

Last updated on 02 Jul 2014

The landings of Icelandic cod declined more or less continuously from almost 545,000 tons in 1955 to around 124,000 tons in 1993. The trend in landings in recent years is largely a reflection of the set TAC that is set for the fishing year (ICES, 2015b). TAC restrictions have resulted in 60% reduction in F and 50% in the Harvest Rate, since 2000. Both have declined significantly in recent years and are presently at the lowest observed levels of the past six decades (ICES, 2015b).

Year classes have been stable but around lower levels observed in 1955-1985. Increase in stock is due to decreased effort, since recruitment during the last decade has been below average. Projections until 2019 indicate that if the harvest control rule is followed the stock should remain in its current condition. There is still considerable uncertainty on biomass estimates, and the stock and landings might decrease slightly (IRM, 2015a).

Until 1991, the management of the stock is relative to calendar years, and since then is for fishing years ending on the 31st August (ICES, 2013a,b). In spring 2009 the Icelandic Government adopted a management plan for the Icelandic cod for the next 5 years (more details in the “Recovery plans” section) (ICES, 2013a). ICES has evaluated the plan and concludes that it is in accordance with ICES MSY framework (ICES, 2014a). The basis of the current HCR is to set the TAC as the average of the last year’s TAC and 20% of the estimated reference biomass B4+ (biomass of 4 year and older cod) in the assessment year.

The TAC for 2014/2015 increased slight from last year and was set at 216,000 tons (IRF, 2014), slightly below the recommended TAC of 218,000 tons (ICES, 2013a). In the last five years the TAC has been set at or below the ICES advice.

In addition to TAC, the fishery is also regulated by a system of temporarily or permanently closed areas for all fisheries or specific gears to protect juveniles and habitat, or for sociopolitical reasons. Fishing is prohibited, for at least two weeks, in areas where the proportion by number of small cod (< 55 cm) in the catches exceed 25%. However, the effectiveness of small areas closed for a short time do most likely not contribute much to the protection of juveniles. Spawning areas have been closed for 2–3 weeks during the spawning season for all fisheries (ICES, 2014a,b).Since 2005, the maximum mesh size allowed in gillnets is 20.3 cm (8 inches) and since 1998 the minimum codend mesh size allowed in the trawling fishery is 135 mm. The effects of these measures have not been evaluated (ICES, 2013a). A no-discarding strategy is in place in Iceland and retained species are recorded and landed (Chaudhury and Lockwood, 2013).

The Iceland’s national parliament adopted since 1981 a management system of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) for the cod fishery with the aim to ensure the sustainability of the fisheries while emphasizing the economic benefits of the fisheries sector (IMFA, 2011c).

Since December 2010 and until 2015, the cod fishery is certified by the Iceland Responsible Fisheries and is in accordance with the Statement on responsible fisheries in Iceland. The unit of certification comprises the 200 mile EEZ fished by all Icelandic registered vessels using all gear types directly and indirectly under the management of the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (IRF, 2011).

The ISF Icelandic cod is certified since April 2012 under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The certification includes five fishery methods, namely demersal otter trawl, Danish seine, long line, hand line and gill net and is within the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone (200nm), ICES V / FAO area 27 (MSC, 2011). In 2014, Pelagic trawl fleet joined the MSC certification. No conditions are required. MSC recommendations regard environmental interactions and are intended to support research on ling, catfish, wolfish and habitat mapping; reduce impacts on skate and cold-water coral and record all bycatch and PET species catches (Chaudhury and Lockwood, 2013). Since 2014, this unit of certification covers the entire fishery.

Last updated on 02 Jul 2014

The Government of Iceland has adopted a management plan for the Icelandic cod stock from 2009/2010 until 2014/2015. ICES has evaluated the plan and it is in accordance the ICES MSY framework (ICES, 2010). The main objective of the management plan is to ensure that the spawning stock (SSB) be above the MSY-generating size of 220 thousand tons by the year 2015. SSB in 2015 has been estimated at 547 thousand tons (ICES, 2015a,b).

The Government of Iceland determined the TAC for the following five fishing years according to the harvest control rule (HCR) within the management plan. Although the 5 year period of the management plan has ended in 2015, the HCR was used for setting TAC for the 2015/2016 fishing year (ICES, 2015a,b).

The Government of Iceland has adopted a management plan for the Icelandic cod stock for the next five fishing years, starting by the 2009/2010 fishing season. The main objective of the management plan is to ensure that the spawning stock (SSB) will with high probability (>95%) be above the MSY-generating size of 220 thousand tons by the year 2015. The Government of Iceland will determine the TAC for the next five fishing years according to the HCR. ICES has evaluated the plan and it is in accordance the ICES MSY framework (ICES, 2014a).

Landings have generally exceeded the TAC since catches caught under the effort regime were not taken into account, except for the fishing years of 2006/2007. Total catches in 2012/2013 were at 212 tons, above the set TAC (195,000 tons) (ICES, 2013a), and comprised undersized fish and landings by foreign vessels which are not considered in the catch rule (MRI, 2013). Main gears in this fishery are: bottom trawl (45%), longline (35%), gillnet (10%), Danish seine (5%) and hooks (5%). Misreporting is not considered an issue (ICES, 2013b). Discards are estimated to be in the range of 1.3-4.3% of numbers landed and 0.5-1.8% of weight landed, but are not completely quantified (ICES, 2014ba).

The seabird community in Icelandic waters is composed of relatively few but abundant species, accounting for roughly ¼ of total number and biomass of seabirds within the ICES area. Most seabirds feed on small fish, like capelin (Mallotus villosus) in north Icelandic waters and sandeels (Ammodytidae) in south Icelandic waters. In this context, they are in direct competition with cod and haddock and may be disadvantaged in the presence of a high cod and haddock stock biomass (DNV, 2012). At least 12 species of cetaceans occur regularly in Icelandic waters, and an additional 10 species have been recorded more sporadically (ICES, 2011b). Of the commonly recorded cetacean species, Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus, Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis and Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus are Endangered (2008 IUCN Red List), and the Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus is Vulnerable (2008 IUCN Red List) (IUCN, 2012). Icelandic-registered fishing vessels are encouraged to record marine mammal bycatch in the e-logbook (DNV, 2012).

Other PET species include Greenland, porbeagle, basking, blue and thresher sharks, blue fin tuna, leatherback turtle, sharp nosed skate and grey or common skate Dipturus batis (DNV, 2012), which is listed as critically endangered (IUCN, 2012). Within the MSC certification framework, it was recommended to establish management measures to ensure the fishery does not hinder common skate populations rebuilding (Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014) and MRI began a re-evaluation of possible impacts of the fishery on skates’ populations (Vottunarstofan Tún., 2015).

Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is within a rebuilding plan in Iceland since 2012 (Regulation 470/2012), which requires live Atlantic halibut to be returned to the sea (Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014). Landings dropped to 36–45 tons in 2012–2014, compared to 555 tons in 2011, however biomass indices from the groundfish survey indicate that currently the stock is severely depleted. MRI recommended that the management policy from 2012 remain until significant recovery of the stock is observed (MRI, 2015b).

Cold water corals Lophelia pertusa are in the OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats and protected by closure areas (Gunnarsson et al., 2011; DNV., 2012). Iceland declared five additional protected areas in 2014 where all trawling is banned with the objective of protecting sites with high densities of cold water corals (Vottunarstofan Tún., 2015).

Interactions with and impacts on Protected, Endangered and Threatened (PET) species by the fishery are very unlikely, apart from a small risk of seabird entanglement (DNV, 2012). Data is collected by an MRI observer program.

Atlantic cod is caught in directed fisheries, as well as in mixed demersal fisheries. There are differences between the different gears used in the main retained species (cod, haddock, saithe, golden redfish, Atlantic wolfish, lumpfish, etc), i.e. species contributing more than 5% to the total demersal catch by gear (Chaudhury and Lockwood, 2013). However, fishermen can have a relatively good control of the relative catch composition of the different species (ICES, 2014b). Catches of retained species are recorded in exactly the same manner as target species and quantities are set against vessel quota for the species and the national TAC (DNV, 2012). Discarding of commercial species is not allowed in Iceland waters. Discarding of non-commercial species is permitted but such species are small fishes so the likelihood of being retained by demersal fishing gear is very small as the meshes are too large. The number of fishes taken as bycatch will be extremely small and the potential effect on their respective populations infinitesimally small relative to their widespread distributions throughout the North Atlantic (Chaudhury and Lockwood, 2013). There is some catch of Blue skates in the longline and Danish seine fisheries, but in a small portion.

Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) biomass index is above average but recruitment indices are at historically low levels. Within the MSC certification framework, it was recommended to establish management measures to ensure the fishery does not hinder recovery and rebuilding of population (Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014). MRI recommended a continued closure of the major spawning area off West Iceland during the spawning and incubation season in autumn and winter (MRI, 2015c).

Some studies have been developed to assess the gear impact in the Icelandic Cod Fishery, namely the utilization of trawlers and longliners but additional data will be required to result in policy changes (Sigurðardóttir et al., 2014). In Iceland, the effects of otter trawling have been investigated and the results suggested that only a few species were affected by trawling (MRI, 2011). Cold water corals, areas with aggregation of large sponge, maerl beds are identified as vulnerable habitats by MRI regarding the bottom trawl fishery; other fishing gears do not interact with the seabed (Gunnarsson et al., 2011; IMR, 2011). Numerous areas off Icelandic waters are closed temporarily or permanently to all fisheries to protect juveniles and benthic habitats (ICES, 2012a), including Hard-coral (Lophelia pertusa )(DNV, 2012).

However, in recent years there has been an increased effort on mapping the distribution of benthic communities and habitats vulnerable to trawling (MRI, 2011; Lockwood et al., 2012). Important and vulnerable ecosystems such as cold-water coral (CWC) reefs, with the predominance of Lophelia pertusa, occur mainly in the southern Icelandic coast (Hall-Spencer and Stehfest, 2009). Implemented in 2009, the Electronic logbook system helps to monitor the interaction of the fishery (based on the fishing effort) with CWC (Burgos and Ragnarsson, 2012). The BIOICE program has been in operation since 1992 with the aim of producing a basic inventory of benthic fauna within Icelandic territorial waters. Following a scientific mapping, 14 coral areas with Lophelia pertusa have been closed for all fisheries using bottom contact gear. The vulnerable habitats identified by OSPAR overlap with fisheries to some extent, but also all have some depth refuge from fisheries impacts in Icelandic waters (Gascoine et al., 2014; Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014).

Last updated on 10 Jul 2014

Several areas off Icelandic waters are closed temporarily or permanently to all fisheries, presumably to protect not only juvenile fish stocks, but also other species groups and benthic habitats (ICES, 2011a; Lockwood et al., 2012). 14 coral areas of Lophelia pertusa have been closed to fisheries with bottom contact (Burgos and Ragnarsson, 2012; Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014). In addition, a quick-response (real-time) closure system has been in force since 1976, aimed at protecting juvenile fish. Fishing is prohibited for at least two weeks in areas where the number of small fish in the catches has been observed by inspectors to exceed threshold percentages (25% or more of <55 cm cod and saithe, 25% or more of <45 cm haddock and 20% or more of <33 cm redfish) (DNV, 2012). Preliminary results indicate that relatively small areas closed for a short time do not contribute for the protection of juveniles. On the other hand, several consecutive quick closures often lead to closures of larger areas for a longer time and force the fleet to operate in other areas. The effect of these longer closures has not been evaluated. Spawning areas have been closed during the spawning season for all fisheries, from 1995, for 2-3 weeks, to protect the spawning stock (ICES, 2013a).

Seven designated Nature Reserves, established from 1974 to 1988, and one Conservation Area, designated in 1995, exist along the Icelandic coast and off Surtsey Island totaling 3,507 km2 (Wood, 2007). Iceland has 39 marine protected areas (in accordance with the OSPAR definition), including 11 relative large areas and 16 offshore areas, which are closed year-round or seasonally or have restricted access for fisheries management purposes (detailed information in Hoyt, 2005).

Several areas off Icelandic waters are closed temporarily or permanently to all fisheries, presumably to protect not only juvenile fish stocks, but also other species groups and benthic habitats (ICES, 2011a; Lockwood et al., 2012); effects are not assessed (ICES, 2013a). 14 coral areas of Lophelia pertusa have been closed to fisheries with bottom contact (Burgos and Ragnarsson, 2012; Vottunarstofan Tún., 2014). In addition, a quick-response (real-time) closure system has been in force since 1976, aimed at protecting juvenile fish. Fishing is prohibited for at least two weeks in areas where the number of small fish in the catches has been observed by inspectors to exceed threshold percentages (25% or more of <55 cm cod and saithe, 25% or more of <45 cm haddock and 20% or more of <33 cm redfish) (DNV, 2012). Preliminary results indicate that relatively small areas closed for a short time do not contribute for the protection of juveniles. On the other hand, several consecutive quick closures often lead to closures of larger areas for a longer time and force the fleet to operate in other areas. The effect of these longer closures has not been evaluated. Spawning areas have been closed during the spawning season for all fisheries, from 1995, for 2-3 weeks, to protect the spawning stock (ICES, 2013a).

Seven designated Nature Reserves, established from 1974 to 1988, and one Conservation Area, designated in 1995, exist along the Icelandic coast and off Surtsey Island totaling 3,507 km² (Wood, 2007). Iceland has 39 marine protected areas (in accordance with the OSPAR definition), including 11 relative large areas and 16 offshore areas, which are closed year-round or seasonally or have restricted access for fisheries management purposes (detailed information in Hoyt, 2005).