Management of the Icelandic Redfish Fisheries

Delimitation of the resource:

• The management unit is redfish in Icelandic waters.
• Stocks are of two species, Sebastes marinus and Sebastes mentella.
• Fishing area is entirely within the Icelandic EEZ and fisheries are therefore managed by Icelandic authorities.

Responsible utilization:

• Stock assessment and advice on Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is received from the Icelandic Marine Research Institute and from ICES.
• All fishing is conducted in accordance with legal requirements.
• Fishing is solely conducted with registered vessels authorised to participate in the fishery by Icelandic authorities.
• About 98% of the catch is by Icelandic vessels, the remainder is by foreign vessels.
• Fishing by Icelandic vessels is managed under the Icelandic fisheries management system of Individual Transferable Quotas - ITQs.
• Icelandic authorities decide on the annual TAC (tonnes) in accordance with scientific advice.
• The TAC is distributed among vessels in accordance with their percentage share of redfish quota.

Active monitoring and control:

• The Icelandic Directorate of Fisheries monitors the fishery and operates a program of on-board observers.
• All landed catch is weighed by certified scale operators and recorded [species, weight, vessel, location, date] in the official Fisheries Directorate data base; this applies to both directed catch and redfish by-catch in other fisheries.
• Export documentation provides an independent check on the amount of redfish caught.
• There is full traceability from catch, through processing, export and delivery on the market.

Proper treatment:

• Discarding is prohibited and monitored.
• The redfish fisheries are to some extent mixed demersal fisheries. In cases of mixed species catches, all commercial species are landed and the different species are weighed separately and the quantities recorded in the official data base.
• Juvenile redfish areas are protected by the mandatory use of sorting grids in shrimp fisheries in those areas, allowing juvenile redfish to escape.
• Redfish that has not grown to harvest size is protected by the closure of large fishery areas.
• Selectivity in the fishery is ensured by rules specifying the minimum cod end mesh size, allowing small redfish to escape capture.
• Known coral areas are closed to all fishing with bottom gear.

Management of fishing conducted by foreign registered vessels:

• The foreign vessel allocation is assigned to specified vessels and their fishing activities are monitored by on-board observers from the Directorate of Fisheries in Iceland. Catches taken by foreign-registered vessels are weighed and recorded in the official data base.

Responsible position in international fora:

• Icelandic government authorities have proposed within NEAFC (North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission) that the same kind of management be adopted for managing redfish fisheries in international waters as applies to fisheries in Icelandic waters. The Icelandic proposals in this regard conform with the recommendations of international organizations concerning the application of the precautionary approach in the fishery.

Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture