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Rätz, H-J., Bethke, E., Dörner, H., Beare, D., and Gröger, J. 2007. Sustainable management of mixed demersal fisheries in the North Sea through fleet-based management—a proposal from a biological perspective. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 652–660. Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, and Norway lobster are main target species for the mixed demersal fisheries of the North Sea, Skagerrak, and eastern Channel. Management by total allowable catch has not been able to constrain exploitation of individual species, so the potential for a fleet-specific effort management system to reach the management objectives established for the stocks is simulated. Relative fleet-specific effort factors are estimated based on the sum of partial fishing mortalities of the species caught, weighted by the stocks at risk of reduced reproductive capacity. The strategy promotes the use of selective gear and levies non-selective gear. The factors were applied in medium-term simulations of the annual decision process in accordance with existing and proposed multi-annual management plans (including for cod recovery). Strict effort reduction would be required for fleets targeting cod, plaice, or sole (specifically large- and medium-mesh trawler fleets, beam trawlers, and gillnetters) for ∼5 years, reducing the exploitation rates on all stocks substantially. Cod and plaice are predicted to recover by 2010 and cod catches to exceed recent levels continually, with the more selective longliners and some other gear types profiting most. Management objectives for cod dominate annual effort adjustments, resulting in substantial underexploitation of other stocks. However, even a 10% bias caused by non-compliance would largely halt cod recovery and the restoration of other stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gröger, J. P., Rountree, R. A., Missong, M., and Rätz, H-J. 2007. A stock rebuilding algorithm featuring risk assessment and an optimization strategy of single or multispecies fisheries. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1101–1115. We present a simple but flexible stock-rebuilding algorithm model that features ideas of risk assessment, with all constraints set up explicitly, and with clear optimality for controlling fishing effort (or fishing mortality) and maximizing landings (or economic value). In contrast to the conventional approach, our approach does not predict future stock development from historical stock dynamics, but provides directly optimal annual F values and associated optimum catch quotas for a given planning horizon. Hence, the F values are not estimated retrospectively, but are realizations of a control variable created through the optimization process. The optimal solution is based on maximization of a non-linearly constrained objective function for catch or yield, whereas the constraints inter alia include biomass targets, F limits, and stable catch. We present the basic theory together with selected model variants, such as inclusion of biological interactions and integration of elements of risk assessment. The optimization procedure outlined here is not only “risk averse” but a risk minimization procedure in itself. It can be applied in a deterministic or stochastic decision-making process as well as within a single or multispecies context. We illustrate the approach with a simplified (deterministic) multispecies fisheries management and a (stochastic) single-species risk assessment example. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Growth variation was estimated from mean lengths-at-ages 4 and 5 for Atlantic cod off Greenland based on 52,973 fish taken from commercial and scientific catches from 1955 to 2002. Mean length-at-age values were corrected for area and seasonal effects, and significant growth reductions occurred during the 1960s and from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s. Annual growth rates of cod in Greenland waters during the most recent decade (1993–2002) were consistently among the highest recorded. Statistical growth models accounting for temperature, fishing mortality, and stock abundance effects were constructed. Multiple linear regressions revealed significant positive temperature effects on growth of both age groups and a significant negative stock density effect on length-at-age 4. Correlations between exploitation intensity and length-at-age were statistically insignificant. During the period 1955–2002, the number of recruits at age 3 was significantly correlated with the Greenland cod spawning-stock biomass, June water temperature on top of Fyllas Bank (West Greenland), and Iceland cod recruitment. All factors had a positive effect on the number of Greenland recruits and, combined, accounted for 60% of the observed variation. Spawning stock size was, by far, the most important factor contributing to recruitment variability, while June water temperature below 1°C and Iceland recruits below 150 million never coincided with high year-class strength in Greenland during the past 50 years. Thus, previous conclusions regarding a close relation between the Greenland and Icelandic cod stocks might need to be reconsidered in the light of a continued recruitment failure in Greenland waters over the two most recent decades, despite the improved environmental conditions and near-average recruitment of the Icelandic stock. The low precision of the recruitment model, however, prevents reliable predictions in the short or medium term, but a substantial short-term recovery of the Greenland cod stock remains unlikely. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Atlantic cod in West Greenland waters have varied greatly in abundance and distribution in the past decades. Strong year classes yielded good catches inshore and offshore in the late 1980s, but since then cod have been nearly absent offshore and the inshore fishery has been depressed, though there has been a small increase inshore over the past few years. Different components contribute to the Greenland cod stock, and re-analysed tagging experiments indicate that migration behaviour differs between them. Inshore cod are sedentary, with almost no migration between different fjord systems. In contrast, there are many cases of alongshore migration of cod tagged on the offshore fishing banks. Further, observations have been made of occasional migrations from offshore to inshore, notably so in years of good recruitment originating from Icelandic waters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]