Cod stocks in the North Sea are showing encouraging signs of a "rapid" recovery after being on the brink of extinction.
Jasper Copping, The Telegraph 31 Jan 09;
New figures from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) show that the number of adult fish in the North Sea is expected to increase by 42 per cent this year, the largest rise in almost 30 years.
Significantly, the quantity of fish capable of reproducing is this year expected to exceed 70,000 tons – the number set by scientists to mark the lowest level possible to ensure the species' long term survival.
It is the first time in a decade that the stock has risen above this milestone.
The recovery is likely to lead to further calls from British fishermen to increase the quota of cod they are permitted to catch.
The size of the spawning stock last year was just 49,941 tons. During the cod boom of the 1970s, the figure was more than 250,000 tons. It fell below 70,000 for the first time in 1999 and reached its lowest level, 28,921 tons, in 2006.
Various conservation methods have been introduced in an effort to help stocks recover, including changing the nets fishermen can use, a reduction in quotas, stricter enforcement by the authorities, restrictions in the number of days vessels can be at sea and the decommissioning of some boats.
Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said: "The stock seems to be rebounding very rapidly and it is very much good news.
"But no one can say which tactic has worked and what hasn't. Something obviously has, but it could just be mother nature."
He said the recovering population had led to increased problems with "discard" where fish are trawled up in nets and then dumped back in the sea because the fishermen have already reached the limits of their quota.
Representatives from the NFFO last week held a round of talks with ICES scientists, in Copenhagen, and with officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in London, about the recovering stocks.
The organisation is proposing greater use of "eliminator" nets, developed in the US, which catch haddock and whiting, while avoiding cod, as well as measures that would close off areas of the sea for short periods of time, when there are known to be large quantities of cod there.
In December, the quota for North Sea cod was increased by 30 per cent. Mr Deas said he hoped there would now be further rises.
Peter Hooley, from the Marine and Fisheries Agency, said: "We continue to monitor and enforce the rules for the purpose of conservation of fish stocks and 'real time' closures of fishing areas could be an exciting development. We are working with the industry."
Stuart Reeves, from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the government's marine science agency, said: "Things are now crawling back up in the right direction.
"The 70,000 figure is the absolute lowest level we would like to see the stocks and the fact that we have been below it shows that things were pretty bad.
"We still want to see them much higher, but things are improving now. Some of the management has been effective. There is cause for guarded optimism."
The number of adult fish is calculated using catch data as well as scientific survey vessels.
