Cod

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is an important fish stock caught all around Iceland and throughout the year.  Long term landings of cod have varied from 180,000 tonnes to 470,000 tonnes per year in the last 30 years, with an average of close to 290,000 tonnes. In the past few years, the catch has been decreasing and the allocated quota for the fishing year 2008/09 is only 130,000 tonnes. Cod is by far the most economically important fish stock in Iceland. In recent years, cod products have accounted for 35-40% of the total seafood export revenue.  

History

The first on-growing trials with wild cod started in Iceland in 1992.  During the first years, the amount of cod farmed in sea cages was limited, but increased greatly in 2002 when the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture decided to allocate a 500 tonne quota annually to promote cod farming in Iceland. The production of cod juveniles which had been carried out on a research scale since 1994 was stepped up in the beginning of 21^st century. A selective breeding program for cod farming was started by the company Icecod Ltd. in 2003. This is recognized as an important step for future development of cod farming in Iceland.

Each autumn from 2003 to 2008, about 1 million cod juveniles were collected in an inshore area in Northwest Iceland and reared in Háafell´s nursery during the winter months; in the following spring 300,000-700,000 juveniles have been stocked in sea cages. Capture of wild juveniles has been stopped and the last stocking in sea cages was performed in spring 2009

Methods

Natural spawning takes place in late winter and spring. The use of light manipulation has made it possible to modify spawning time and produce eggs over longer periods. When juveniles have reached 5 g they are normally moved from hatchery to nursery. Juveniles are normally reared in nursery to 50-250 g and then transferred to sea cages for on-growing. Farmed juveniles reach market size (3-4 kg) after about 30 months in sea cages.

In Iceland, mainly two methods are used for cod farming: one is based on capturing wild cod for on-growing, the other focuses on the production of cod from hatching to market size. Wild cod (1-2 kg) reach market size (3-4 kg) in 6-12 months.  

Juvenile production

The hatchery production has been carried out at the Mariculture Laboratory of the Marine Research Institute which is located on the southwest coast of Iceland. During the period 2004-2007 the hatchery produced 100,000-200,000 cod juveniles per year, which were delivered to cod farms in Iceland and the Shetlands. The company IceCod Ltd. has recently started production of cod juveniles and is expecting an increased production. 

On-growing

Today 11 farms are on-growing wild or hatchery produced cod. The slaughtered volume of farmed and wild farmed cod has increased from 10 tonnes in the year 2000 up to 1450 tonnes in 2007.  Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör, the largest producer of farmed cod in Iceland, is a vertically integrated seafood company, controlling the juvenile production, on-growing, harvesting, packaging and marketing of the products. 

Today it seems that on-growing of wild cod is more economically efficient than using farmed juveniles. For the next few years, therefore, the production of cod will still be based mainly on the on-growing of wild cod. There is going to be slow growth in the production of farmed cod in Iceland and the expected volume is less than 2,000 tonnes in the year 2010.  If cod farming in Iceland becomes profitable, a large increase in production is to be expected after 2015, especially when the breeding program is able to deliver faster growing cod juveniles.  

 Export

Most of the farmed cod are filleted for the production of fresh loins. The remainder of the fillet is mainly frozen. The annual export of whole fresh farmed cod has been 50-200 tonnes for the past five years. The export of farmed cod fillets is not registered in Icelandic export statistics. Thus, no information is available regarding volume and value.  The main export market for fresh farmed cod from Iceland is the United Kingdom.

Valdimar Ingi Gunnarsson