SPAWNING stocks of cod in the North Sea are at their highest level for a decade, a new report by the world's leading marine experts revealed today.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (Ices) said that the number of cod surviving to reproductive maturity is now 40 per cent higher than the average since the turn of the century, while the number being killed each year by fish
ing and other natural causes has decreased by almost 15 per cent.
Fishing industry and skippers' leaders in Scotland welcomed the boost in numbers as vindication of their efforts to help protect fragile North Sea stocks. But an Ices spokeswoman told The Scotsman: "The spawning stock seems to be increasing, although it is still below targets. The fishing mortality is still too high."
Last year, the Ices marine scientists recommended a zero catch for cod in 2009 as a result of their last stock assessment. But the advisory group's latest report states: "The Ices advice for 2010 indicates that catches of cod can be allowed under the new management agreement. This change in advice is because the new management agreement is considered to be consistent with the precautionary approach."
John Rutherford, chief executive of Seafish, the industry's main trade body, welcomed the recovery in stock levels, saying: "This latest data … is evidence that fishermen's own ideas for catching less but landing more fish can work.
"The outstanding improvements in the stock levels for North Sea cod are due to measures undertaken by the fishing industry to reduce fishing effort. The industry has also been working with scientists on the creation of a sustainable future for the North Sea."
He added: "As an industry, we know that there's no room for complacency. There have been some good years for spawning cod which, coupled with industry initiatives, show how stocks can rebound.
"We have seen a similar situation occur with cod stock recovery in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland where there are now 100,000 tonnes of spawning stock according to Canadian fisheries scientists."
Ices is recommending an increase in the cod catch of no more than 20 per cent.
