Fishing mortality has generally been lower than the natural mortality for this stock and has decreased in recent years well below the long term average.
Recruitment in 2007-2008 was around the long term average (83 billions) and well above average in 2009. With present fishing mortality levels, the status of the stock is mainly determined by natural processes. For 2010 the quota was set to 81 000 tons.
Management technical regulations of the fishery
ICES states that there is a need to ensure that the stock remains high enough to provide food for a variety of predator species.
No specific management objectives are known to ICES for this stock. Due to the short-lived nature of this species a preliminary TAC is set every year, which is updated on the basis of advice in the first half of the year.
Until 2005, there were in fact no limits on total landings, but because of the poor state of the stock the EU and Norway agreed to close the fishery in 2005. The fishery remained closed until September 2006, when the EU set a TAC of 90 000 tons, and Norway opened an unrestricted fishery. Due to relatively poor recruitment in 2006, the fishery was closed again in 2007. In 2008 the fishery was reopened with an initial TAC of 50 000 tons, which was not taken. In order to reduce by-catches of immature round fish, the “Norway Pout Box” north-east of Scotland was introduced in 1977 where fisheries with small-meshed trawls were banned.
In the Norwegian economic zone, the Patch Bank was closed permanently in 2002, and in 2008 the fishing season was restricted to the period 1st of May – 31st of August. In the Norwegian zone, mesh size limitations are 16 to 80 mm, and individual landings must contain less than 20 per cent by-catch of cod, haddock and saithe. During the last 10 years, by-catches of cod, haddock and saithe in the combined Norwegian fishery for Norway pout and blue whiting have been 0.1 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
Ecosystem/Biology
Norway pout is a small, short-lived gadoid species, which rarely gets older than five years. It is distributed from the west of Ireland to Kattegat and from the North Sea to the Barents Sea. Norway pout is an important food source for other species. Spawning in the North Sea takes place in the area between Shetland and Norway.
Around 10 percent reaches maturity already at one year of age, however, most individuals reach maturity at the age of two. Recruitment in Norway pout is highly variable and influences the spawning stock biomass and total stock biomass rapidly, due to the short life span of the species. Norway pout is important prey for other species. Hence, the stock size is heavily influenced by inter-annual variability in recruitment and predation.
By-catches in the Norway pout fisheries can influence the state of stocks such as whiting, haddock, saithe and herring. Additionally, Norway pout is an important prey species for a variety of fish species (e.g. saithe, cod, haddock, and mackerel).
About the fishery
During the 1960s, a significant small meshed fishery developed for Norway pout in the northern North Sea, with peak landings of 740 000 tons in 1974. Since the early 1980s, annual landings have fluctuated around 200 000 tons. In recent years, landings have decreased substantially to merely 13 500 tons in 2004. The fishery was closed in 2005, re-opened in September 2006 (46 600 tons), and closed again in 2007.
The fishery is mainly carried out by Danish and Norwegian vessels using small-mesh trawls in the north-western North Sea. Main fishing seasons are 3rd and 4th quarter of the year, with high catches also in the 1st quarter, especially before 1999. In addition to the directed Norway pout fishery, the species is also taken as by-catch in the blue whiting fishery.
By-catches of these species have been low in the recent decade. The directed fishery for Norway pout was closed in 2005, the first half of 2006 and in 2007. Fishing effort and catches have been relatively low in 2008 and 2009.