Cheating about the cod

The Northeast Arctic cod is managed by a total quota shared evenly between Norway and Russia. It appears that Russia has been overfishing its quota by substantial amounts for a number of years, due to insufficient monitoring of fishing vessels. This paper considers what would be the best reply by Norway to given levels of Russian overfishing. It is found that in most cases the best Norwegian reply would be also to overfish its quota. An aggregate biomass model with stochastic growth and recruitment is used to analyze this question, with parameters estimated from 1946 to 2005 data. Recruitment is serially correlated but apparently independent of the spawning stock. A model using the estimated serial correlation in recruitment and a random disturbance is capable of reproducing recruitment patterns similar to the irregular pattern observed since 1946.     

Can cod farming affect cod fishing? A system evaluation of sustainability

The cod resources in the Barents Sea constitute the most important fisheries in Norway. In order to reduce resource allocation conflicts among different gear and vessel groups and to ensure profit for all participants throughout the value chain, the sector is thoroughly organized. The institutions established to ensure long-term sustainability, have been developed within the framework of a joint Norwegian–Russian fisheries management regime. However, due to a very high fishing mortality, the cod stock is now under severe pressure. In addition, a major part of the cod fisheries is highly seasonal and unable to be a stable supplier to neither the land-based industry nor demanding international markets. In parallel, cod farming is expected to become a new emerging industry, with potential to copy the success of farmed Atlantic salmon. Many actors within the cod fisheries fear the future competition from the growing cod farming sector. With reference to important attributes that characterize the cod fisheries and cod farming, this paper discusses how a future farming industry may affect the traditional cod fisheries. Moreover, we discuss how the fisheries may be forced to organize in the future to encounter the expected competition from cod farming.     

欧式鳕鱼排的研制

以鳕鱼为原料 ,经过鱼糜制作、调味、速冻、切片、浸液、沾粉、二次速冻等工艺研制开发了欧式鳕鱼排。探讨了原、辅料和漂洗条件对产品质量的影响 ,测定了评价产品质量的感官、理化和微生物指标。     

Lessons for fisheries management from the EU cod recovery plan

The performance of the EU long-term management plan for cod stocks, in force since 2009, is analysed focusing on the human and institutional factors. The plan operates through landings quotas (TACs) and effort restrictions following a Harvest Control Rule, and deploys a novel instrument allowing Member States to ‘buy back’ or increase fishing effort for fleet segments engaged in cod-avoidance measures. The stipulated fishing mortality reductions have not been achieved. On the positive side, the ‘buy-back’ instrument has led to increased uptake of selective gear and implementation of permanent and real-time temporary closures. On the negative side, ignoring the dimension of fishers as reactive agents in the design, the impact assessment, and the annual implementation of the measures has contributed to the failure to adequately implement the plan and achieve its objectives. The main problem is that the landings quotas taken in a mixed fishery did not limit catches because fishers were incentivised to continue fishing and discard overquota catch while quota for other species was available. The effort limitations intended to reduce this effect were insufficient to adequately limit fishing mortality in targeted fisheries, although fishers experienced them as prohibiting the full uptake of other quotas. Recommendations for future plans include (i) management through catch rather than landings quotas, (ii) the internalisation of the costs of exceeding quotas, (iii) use of more selective gear types, (iv) the development of appropriate metrics as a basis for regulatory measures and for evaluations, (v) participatory governance, (vi) fishery-based management, (vii) flexibility in fishing strategy at vessel level.     

Fishermen responses on marine protected areas in the Baltic cod fishery

Much of the research that concerns the impacts of management measures in the eastern Baltic cod fishery has focused on fish stock rather than understanding fishermen's attitudes towards regulations. Hence, there is little information available on fishermen's responses although they are the ones whom the regulations affect most profoundly. This study analyses the views of fishermen towards management measures with an emphasis on fishing closures (marine protected areas, MPAs). Swedish log-book data from 1996 to 2005 were used to describe MPA induced fishing effort displacements. Fishermen argued that MPAs have been inefficient in conservation of cod stock. The enlargement of Bornholm MPA in 2005 caused substantial effort displacement towards areas dominated by smaller sized fish. This contributed to the increased discarding of juvenile cod. Enlarged MPAs also intensified competition between different fleet segments and reallocated fishing areas. To reduce fishing mortality, fishermen suggested days-at-sea (effort) regulation and an effective landings control system for all fleets that exploit cod stocks in the Baltic Sea Main Basin. These measures would better motivate fishermen for mutual rule compliance, which is a prerequisite for a sustainable cod fishery.