An evaluation of the IMR Summer Bottom Trawl Survey in the Barents Sea

Abstract

Summary: A committee was formed to evaluate the Institute of Marine Research summer survey in the Barents Sea, which has been conducted annually since 1995. The primary focus of the committee was the survey’s importance for the assessment of Northeast Arctic cod, with a secondary focus on its other present or potential uses. It was found that the summer and winter survey indices of cod abundance were consistent, i.e. indicated similar trends in cod abundance, and that for the same amount of effort, the winter survey in the Barents Sea would generate estimates of cod abundance that were much more precise than those from the summer survey. It is concluded that the summer survey does not provide significantly more information for the assessment of cod than the winter survey and the Lofoten acoustic survey of spawning biomass. Thus the summer survey should be continued only if other uses justify its high cost.