Norwegian Sea ecoregion – Fisheries overview. In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2020. ICES Advice 2020, section 12.2

The largest landings in this ecoregion are by Norway, the Russian Federation (Russia henceforth), Faroe Islands, and Iceland, mainly by pelagic fisheries. Other nations also have fisheries in the area. The number of fishing vessels is declining while the size of the remaining vessels is increasing. The annual catch in the ecoregion has varied between 700 000 tonnes to over 2 million tonnes.

The pelagic fisheries, using purse seine and pelagic trawls, account for the largest catches by weight and target herring (her.27.1-24a514a), blue whiting (whb.27.1-91214), mackerel (mac.27.nea), and other pelagic species. The largest demersal fishery targets cod (cod.27.1-2), haddock (had.27.1-2), and saithe (pok.27.1-2) using bottom trawls, purse seine, Danish seine and gillnets, and to a lesser extent hook and line gear. Smaller fisheries target other gadoid species, Greenland halibut (ghl.27.1-2), and redfish. Landings of pelagic species within the ecoregion in the last decades have been variable.

The demersal fisheries, dominated by cod, display less pronounced fluctuations than the pelagic fisheries. Information about discards is sparse, but the total weight of discards is considered low in both the pelagic and the demersal fisheries. Harp seals and minke whales are hunted in the region. Status summary of Norwegian Sea stocks relative to the ICES maximum sustainable yield (MSY) approach and precautionary approach (PA) is known for 50% of the 23 stocks assessed by ICES in this ecoregion. Only 22% of the stocks are fished below

FMSY, accounting for nearly 13% of the total catch. 30% of the stocks have a biomass above MSY Btrigger, accounting for 86% of the total catch. Demersal stocks have shown a trend of declining fishing mortality since the mid-1990s, and the average F/FMSY ratio is now close to 1. The mean SSB/MSY Btrigger ratio of demersal stocks has been decreasing over the last decade,

but mean SSB remains above MSY Btrigger. The average F/FMSY ratio for pelagic stocks has been decreasing since 2000 and is now close to 1. The mean SSB/MSY Btrigger ratio for pelagic species has shown a slight increase over the last two decades and is above 1.

In addition to biomass removal, ecosystem effects of fisheries include abrasion, ghost fishing, and bycatch of protected,

endangered, and threatened species.

 
Citation proposal
ICES (2020) . Norwegian Sea ecoregion – Fisheries overview. In Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2020. ICES Advice 2020, section 12.2. https://services.mspdata.eu:/geonetwork/srv/api/records/7552ff39-fd28-46e6-9a4a-67306f53b023

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Date ( Publication )
2020-11-30
Identifier
7552ff39-fd28-46e6-9a4a-67306f53b023
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International Conference on Environmental Systems

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Thèmes Sextant ( Theme )
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 ( Theme )
Mission Atlantic - Resources ( Theme )
  • Article
Mission Atlantic - Case Studies ( Theme )
  • Norwegian Sea
Mission Atlantic - BODC Parameters ( Theme )
  • /Human activities/Fisheries
Mission Atlantic - Data type (DMP) ( Theme )
  • Socio-economic data
Mission Atlantic - Work Package ( Theme )
  • WP5 Assessing state, drivers and tipping points
Metadata language
English
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UTF8
Topic category
  • Oceans
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E
W


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ICES Advice 2020  
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2021-12-15T17:16:44
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ISO 19115:2003/19139 - SEXTANT
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