ICES recommends significant reduction in mackerel catch for 2025 while increasing northeast Arctic herring quota

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended a significant reduction in the allowable catch of mackerel for next year while advising an increase for northeast Arctic herring, according to the Faroe Marine Research Institute.

The total allowable catch for mackerel in 2025 is proposed to be 577,000 tons, which is 22% less than this year’s quota. The mackerel stock has been declining since 2014, attributed to overfishing and a reduction in recruitment.

For saithe, ICES recommends a total catch limit of 1.4 million tons for the following year, reflecting a 5.4% decrease from this year’s recommendations. The 2022 and 2023 cohorts of saithe are expected to be below average, which could lead to a continued decline in the spawning stock in the coming years, following a good recruitment in 2020 and 2021.

Conversely, the northeast Arctic herring stock shows signs of improvement and can withstand a higher catch. ICES suggests increasing the quota for herring by 3.3%, bringing it to 402,000 tons in 2025. The spawning stock has been in decline from 2008 to 2020; however, strong cohorts from 2016 saw a slight recovery in 2020 and 2021. Despite a decline in the spawning stock last year and this year, there is potential for recruitment from 2021 and 2022, which is above average and may positively impact future stock levels.

Due to disagreements among countries regarding fishing limits for mackerel, saithe, and northeast Arctic herring in recent years, catches have been 30-45% higher than ICES’s recommendations. This year, overfishing for both herring and saithe has decreased by about 10%.