Atlantic cod

West Greenland inshore cod is being overfished, and part of the stock is depleted.The cod caught around Greenland is from four separate stocks, which are defined based on where they spawn:Offshore Western GreenlandInshore West Greenland (aka West Greenland fiords)Offshore Eastern and South GreenlandInshore Icelandic waters.The proportional contribution of each stock to catches is highly uncertain.The most recent stock assessment was carried out by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in 2023, using data up to 2023. The stock was benchmarked in 2023 and new models were used. Advice is now split into two stock components: northern (1A-C) and southern (1D-F). The advice in 2023 is not directly comparable to the stocks ICES gave advice for from 2015 to 2022.This rating is for Inshore West Greenland (Southern).Route 2 scoring has been used because there is no reference point for Flim. Cod has medium resilience to fishing pressure.Fishing pressure (F) has been above the level associated with Maximum Sustainable Yield (FMSY) since before the year 2000. For 1D-F, FMSY is 0.29 and F in 2022 was 150% of this, at 0.44. This indicates that the stock is subject to overfishing. No reference points have been defined for Flim - the level of pressure that could cause severe stock depletion. Therefore, the severity of the overfishing is unknown, but there is clear concern.The spawning stock biomass (SSB) of the southern substock peaked in 2018, and has since declined. It appears to have stabilised above MSY BTrigger (4,116t). In 2023, SSB was 142% of MSY BTrigger, at 5,845t. Therefore, there is no concern for this component.ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, catches in 2024 should be no more than 3,095 tonnes. For 1A-C this should be 756t, and 1D-F it should be 2,349t. This is not comparable to previous year's advice, but implies a reduction in catches. Recent catches in 1A-C have been over 4,000t and in 1D-F have averaged 3,700t.The new stock assessment uses genetics and information from tagging to separate the different stocks, and is therefore now of better quality.Cod from the two offshore spawning stocks migrate into the inshore areas used by Inshore West Greenland cod. This should be taken into account when defining management actions to avoid exceeding the advice for any of the stock units.

Few appropriate management measures are in place. There is no management plan and catch limits have substantially exceeded scientific advice.Fisheries in Greenland are managed by the Ministry of Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture. Inshore fleets are mainly from Greenland, while offshore fishing is also conducted by EU, Iceland and Norway. There are four main stocks, defined by where they spawn: Offshore west Greenland, Inshore west Greenland, Offshore east and south Greenland, and Inshore Iceland. The first three stocks mix in the waters around west Greenland.There is no management plan in place. The main management measures are catch limits, known as a Total Allowable Catches (TACs). The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) provides scientific advice on TACs, based on stock size.The TAC for Inshore West Greenland has never followed ICES advice. On average from 2018-2022, TACs were 439% of the advice. Catches from 2017-2021 averaged 68% of the TACs. The catches were 275% of the advice. Furthermore, historically, when TACS were reached, the limit was simply increased, effectively making this fishery unlimited.ICES has also highlighted that fishing in the inshore area was likely to be catching West Greenland offshore cod (up to 30% of the catch), which was in a depleted condition with zero catch advice. It highlighted that continued excessive fishing pressure in the inshore area would delay offshore stock recovery. In addition, quota for the inshore fishery could be transferred to the offshore fishery, which had a much higher chance of catching offshore West Greenland cod.Management measures have therefore been wholly inadequate for protecting the Inshore and Offshore stocks and have allowed for substantial overexploitation.In 2023, ICES reviewed and improved its stock assessments using genetic and tagging data, to account for the mixing of the three stocks. Advice is not therefore comparable to previous years. The three stocks mix outside of the spawning season, which should be taken into account when setting TACs and other management measures. Total advice for the three stocks combined for 2024 is 29,021t. The combined TACs in 2023 were 51,445t. This implies a significant reduction in TAC to meet the new advice and prevent overexploitation. It is too early to tell whether management will follow the new advice.Licences have been required since 2009. There is a minimum landing size of 40cm. Most fish (over 60%) are caught by poundnet, which allows release of small cod, so catches of juveniles are low. Given that the fishery has been unlimited, there is no incentive to discard fish or misreport catches under the current management system.There are no season or area closures.

Most inshore west Greenland cod is caught by traps known as poundnets. This could entangle humpback whales, although entanglement rates are generally low.Most inshore west Greenland cod is caught by pound net, accounting for around 60% of catches. Other catches are by longlines (18%), hooks (13%) and gill nets (7%).A poundnet is a fish trap used in coastal areas. In consists of a leader, which is a long straight vertical net that diverts fish towards a trap, or pound, where the fish are held. The trap is usually perpendicular to the shore, with the pound being furthest away from the shore.The nets are anchored to the seabed, so depending on where the traps are set, there could be seabed impacts. Traps tend to be set on soft sediments, which are more robust than sensitive habitats like rocky or biogenic reefs.The leader can be up to 400m long, and may act like a gillnet. There are records of humpback whale entanglement in poundnets in west Greenland. Entanglements must be reported using the hunting reporting scheme. From 1998-2016, annual entanglements from poundnets, crab pots and gillnets were between 1 and 3 individuals, with the exception of 2005, when 5 were reported, and 2015, when 10 were reported. Gear specific data is not available except for 2015, when 3 of the entanglements were attributed to poundnet. Gillnets and poundnets are listed as high risk for marine mammals. No data is available after 2016.Whale hunting is permitted in Greenland, and is a larger source of documented removals than entanglements. The quota is 10 individuals per year, but the average catch was 7 individuals from 2010-2017. The quota of 10 per year is considered sustainable by the International Whaling Commission. The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission has concluded that 25 removals per year are safe for the period 2019-2024. There is some uncertainty, given the lack of recent entanglement data. However, it appears that, in general, total removals from hunting and entanglement are within the suggested sustainable limits.No earnings are permitted from an entangled whale, although if damage to fisheries equipment can be documented, the owner can sell products to cover the loss. This removes some incentive to allow entanglements to continue. The northeast Atlantic population of humpback whale is at least 35,000 individuals and increasing. The west Greenland population is around 993 (434-2,272) and is also listed as increasing by the Greenland government, albeit with some fluctuations owing to migration to east Greenland. Therefore, we consider that entanglement rates are unlikely causing populations to decline. Any indications of a declining population could affect this score in future.Catches of cod in the inshore fishery may include offshore west Greenland cod. Historically, this stock was considered highly depleted, with inshore catches likely to delay recovery. In 2023 stock boundaries were adjusted and advice has changed. While the offshore stock is not now considered to be highly depleted, it is subject to overfishing and there is mixing of the stocks in the catches. Therefore, it is possible that the inshore fishery is contributing to catches of the offshore stock. However, the offshore stock biomass has shown an increasing trend since 2020. This suggests that bycatch levels are not preventing recovery. Any indications of a declining population could affect this score in future.