Preliminary report of the Norwegian investigations on young cod and haddock in the Barents Sea during the winter 1982

Abstract

An acoustic survey and a bottow trawl survey for cod and haddock were carried out in the Barents Sea during the winter 1983. The two surveys gave different results. The acoustic survey showed a 50 % reduction from 1982 for the Barents Sea stock of young cod. The largest reductions were found for the 1977-1975 year-classes. For haddoek the reduction in the total stock of young fish was about 48% with the largest reductions found for the 1998-1975 year-classes. The bottom trawl survey showed no such reductions of young fish. In this survey the indices for the younger age-groups (2-5) were higher in 1983 than in 1982 for both cod and haddock. In both surveys the amount of older fish (6-l0+) was significantly lower in 1983 than in 1982, mainly because the abundant 1975 year-class had reached maturity and had migrated out of the investigated area.