Flatfishes

Flatfishes (order Pleuronectiformes) are commercially important for fisheries all over the world. This is also the case in Icelandic waters. Eight species of flatfish are harvested regularly. Greenland halibut by trawlers in deep waters, halibut by various gear in deep and shallow waters and plaice, lemon sole, witch flounder, dab, long rough dab and megrim in Danish seine or trawl in intermediate or shallow waters. These are all described further in separate web pages. In addition, four have been found in Icelandic waters. The Norwegian topknot (Phrynorhombus norvegicus) occurs there naturally but is much too small to be of commercial interest. Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) has been found there only once. The turbot (Psetta maxima) occurs there regularly but, almost certainly, as a vagrant from Europe. This is a very valuable species and aquaculture experiments in Iceland with turbot have proved to be successful. The last species is the flounder (Platichthys flesus). It was previously unknown but seems to be gaining a foothold and spawning in Icelandic waters. This species thrives in brackish and fresh water and is becoming a common catch in Icelandic rivers.

With the exception of plaice and halibut, Icelanders did not catch flatfishes in large numbers during most of the 20^th century. Other species, mainly codfishes were more easily caught, more abundant and, furthermore, there was little tradition in Iceland for the consumption of flatfishes. Flatfish catches by foreign fleets, especially British, were, on the other hand, quite high from the beginning of their operations in Icelandic waters at the end of the 19^th century. After the foreign fleets were expelled from Icelandic waters, there was a 15-year period where flatfish fisheries were minimal. Large-scale Icelandic fisheries however started in earnest on Greenland halibut in the late 1970’s, then on other species in the early 1980’s. The reason for this was, that the total allowable catch (TAC) on other species had decreased or had been restricted, which, in turn, meant that fishermen increasingly targeted species previously ignored.

Originally there were no restrictions on catches of flatfish, but, as catches increased, they were assigned their own TAC´s. First Greenland halibut in 1984, then plaice in 1991, witch flounder in 1996, dab and the long rough dab in 1997 and finally lemon sole in 1999. Except for lemon sole, this is exactly in order of total catch value for each species. Halibut and the megrim do not have a TAC, since they are mostly bycatch of other fisheries. All species in Iceland are theoretically included in the ITQ system but the TAC is unrestricted for some species of minor importance.

References and further information

References: (Anon, 2008), (Jónsson & Pálsson, 2006), (Jónsson, Pálsson, & Jóhannsson, 2001), (Valtýsson, 1998).

For full citation and further information on the main species in general see this page

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