Estimates of stock size of northeast Arctic cod and haddock, "Sebastes mentella" and "Sebastes marinus" from survey data, winter 1988

Abstract

An acoustic survey and a bottom trawl survey for cod and haddock were carried out in the Barents Sea during the winter 1988. The fish still had the westerly distribution established in the previous year, but the echo abundance was substantially lower for both cod and haddock. The results of the surveys confirm the declining trend in recruitment. Abundance indices for redfish indicate that the stock situation is stabilizing for Sebastes mentella, but give cause for great concern for the Sebastes marinus stock. An acoustic survey on the spawning grounds of cod in the Lofoten-Vesterålen area was carried out after the Barents Sea survey. The estimate of mature cod was only 37% of the 1987 estimate.