Joint Norwegian-Russian monitoring of 0-group fish on autumn surveys in the Barents Sea, 1965-2023

Abstract

A joint Norwegian-Russian survey of 0-group fish (here defined as fish hatched earlier in the same calendar year) in the Barents Sea was started in September 1965 with the motivation to provide initial information on year class strength of commercially important fish stocks (ICES 1965, Eriksen and Prozorkevich 2011). The survey initially used echosounders to record 0-group fish combined with trawl sampling to identify the composition of the acoustic backscatter (Dragesund and Olsen 1965). The joint 0-group survey was continued the following years with participation also by the United Kingdom from 1966 to 1976. Intercalibration of the echosounders was done before the start of the survey to improve comparability of results obtained by different research vessels (Dragesund 1970, Dragesund et al. 2008).

Joint Norwegian-Russian monitoring of 0-group fish on autumn surveys in the Barents Sea, 1965-2023