Thanks to a responsible fisheries policy and sustainable fishing industry the most important commercial fishing stocks are at historic heights. The size of the cod stock has not been greater since 1996 when the institute began its current series of measurements. Many other key commercial fish stocks are similarly at historic heights.
Read more: Icelandic fishing industry consumes 43% less fossil fuels than in 1990
The stock of cod and several other commercial species reached a historic low point in 2006-2007, but has been growing since then. The autumn measurements of the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute show that cod, and several key species, including pollock, cusk, ling, which resemble cod as well as perch and flatfish species like witch and plaice.
Sustainable fisheries
The recent recovery of the cod population in Icelandic waters is welcome news. The population plummeted in the post war years, like many other commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic, as fishing increased with larger and more powerful vessels. In response to this crisis Iceland introduced a a system of total allowable catch quotas in 1984. These were later made transferrable, allowing fisheries to trade their share of the total allowed catch.
Although the system has remained controversial, due to the fact that the quota has been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, it ha been successful in reducing fishing and strengthening the fish stocks.
While total quotas frequently exceeded the recommendations of marine biologists in the first years of the quota system, the recommendations of the Marine Research Institute have been taken more seriously in the more recent past. For the past eight years the Institute has issued particularly cautious recommendations in the hope of strengthening the breeding population of cod.
Thanks to a responsible fisheries policy and sustainable fishing industry the most important commercial fishing stocks are at historic heights. The size of the cod stock has not been greater since 1996 when the institute began its current series of measurements. Many other key commercial fish stocks are similarly at historic heights.
Read more: Icelandic fishing industry consumes 43% less fossil fuels than in 1990
The stock of cod and several other commercial species reached a historic low point in 2006-2007, but has been growing since then. The autumn measurements of the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute show that cod, and several key species, including pollock, cusk, ling, which resemble cod as well as perch and flatfish species like witch and plaice.
Sustainable fisheries
The recent recovery of the cod population in Icelandic waters is welcome news. The population plummeted in the post war years, like many other commercial fish stocks in the Atlantic, as fishing increased with larger and more powerful vessels. In response to this crisis Iceland introduced a a system of total allowable catch quotas in 1984. These were later made transferrable, allowing fisheries to trade their share of the total allowed catch.
Although the system has remained controversial, due to the fact that the quota has been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, it ha been successful in reducing fishing and strengthening the fish stocks.
While total quotas frequently exceeded the recommendations of marine biologists in the first years of the quota system, the recommendations of the Marine Research Institute have been taken more seriously in the more recent past. For the past eight years the Institute has issued particularly cautious recommendations in the hope of strengthening the breeding population of cod.
