Spatial and temporal patterns in recruitment of shrimp Pandalus borealis in the Barents Sea

Abstract

The shrimp spawn in autumn and the eggs are carried as out roe by the females until spring when the larvae hatch. Within a period of 2-3 months the shrimp larvae settle to the bottom. Today’s assessment and forecast of the shrimp stock productivity and potential fishing yields is weak. This is partly due to poor knowledge on population dynamics from hatching and till the shrimp are caught in the fishery at the age of three or four years in the. Since 1995 juvenile shrimp has been caught by a net attached to the underbelly of the survey trawl during the annual cruise in the Barents Sea. The abundance of settled shrimp larvae varies in time and space. The recruitment to the fishery has been quite stable with the exception of the 1996 year-class that was observed as l+ but has not been registered since. We study the annual settlement and survivor of juveniles until recruiting to the fishery. The spatial and temporal distribution as well as density of the four youngest year-classes are studied in relation to temperature, depth, shrimp stock abundance and presence of predating cod in the Barents Sea.