Skreiinnsiget i Lofoten 1976

Abstract

In the period 19 February - 5 March 1976 three echo surveys were made with R.V. "Peder Rønnestad" in Lofoten. The distribution of Arctic cod was charted by counting the number of fish recorded per nautical mile by the echo sounder. The spawning migration in 1976 was characterized by a relatively shallow distribution of the fish which probably was linked with an unusually shallow transition layer between Atlantic and coastal water. There were clearly more cod present than in the previous three years. Purse seine catches show that young fish of the 1969 and 1970 year classes were numerically, if not by weight, the dominating element of the shoals.