Barents Sea

Capelin, cod and haddock are the main exploited stocks. Catches went through dramatic declines from 1960 to the early 2000’s due to overfishing. Herring collapsed first in the 60s, capelin, cod, haddock and saithe were at historic low levels from the 80s into the early 2000. The problems of overexploitation, illegal catches and discards are since significantly reduced. The situation has improved significantly, due to management measures and favourable climatic conditions. By 2013 the NEA cod stock is near record high while the capelin stock is relatively stable on a fairly strong level, partly due to reduced predation by young herring, not present in significant abundance in the Barents Sea at the time. The lack of trends seems to be due to natural wide variations of capelin, including the decrease in mean fish size.