Recruitment and distribution of North-East Arctic saithe in relation to changes in the environment

Abstract

The stocks of North-East Arctic saithe and Arctic cod have responded in a similar way to the period of cold climate in the Barents Sea 1976 - 1982. Since a relationship with the climate has been established for Arctic cod, a relationship with the climate als0 for North-East Arctic saithe is indicated. Time series of recruitment, landings, and catch per unit of effort were compared with historic data on the climate. The results showed little evidence of relationships. A concurrence of poor recruitment in all North-East Atlantic saithe stocks 1974-1977 coincided with a period of extreme low salinities in the Faroe-Shetland Channel, indicating that the recruitment may suffer in years with reduced inflow of Atlantic water. Although little other evidence of a relationship with the climate is found, the lack of a close stock-recruitment relationship reveals that environmental factors affect the recruitment of the North-East Arctic saithe, but the nature of these factors are mostly unknown. The feeding area and therefore probably als0 the availability of food appears to be more stable for saithe than for cod. It is suggested that this may be the evolutionary basis for the relatively small variation in year class abundance for saithe compared to cod.