Demand for groundfish species is increasing and there are new opportunities in emerging countries. Brazil has become a growing destination for Norwegian cod, relieving somewhat the concerns of Norwegian exporters as their sales in southern Europe have been affected by the economic crisis.

Consumption of groundfish is on the rise, creating new markets for exporters. Increased supply to Europe, America and Asia will come from good management practices of the wild stocks. However supply from wild stocks will not be enough to meet future demand and aquaculture will have to play an important role to meet that demand. Groundfish suppliers manage to preserve the positive image of traditional groundfish species in the mind of consumers as the competition in the future will increasingly come from farmed tropical species.

Cod catches are up by 10% in Russia, and fishermen get ready to receive MSC certification

Official figures show that Russian cod catches have increased by 10% in 2011. 368 300 tonnes of cod were caught from January to December 2011. Russian cod catches in the Far East totalled 63 300 tonnes of which 42 000 tonnes came from the Bering Sea, 12 900 tonnes from the Sea of Okhotsk, 7 900 tonnes from the Northern and Southern Kuril Islands and 500 tonnes from the Sea of Japan. Catches in the Baltic Sea totalled 4 300 tonnes.

Russia hopes that the certification process by the MSC will be completed by the end of 2012. The cod and haddock fisheries in the Barents Sea that account for half of the country’s cod and haddock catches comply with all the  requirements needed by MSC standards.

In Alaska, the 2012 pollock quota was reduced

The Alaska pollock A season started on 20 January 2012. The pollock quota for Alaska’s Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands will be 5.2% lower than it was last year. The harvest level in 2011 was at 1.25 million tonnes. Prices of pollock fillet blocks and surimi are firming because of overall shortages of whitefish in the market. Alaska and Russia left significant quantities of pollock uncaught last year; Canada also left large amounts of hake unharvested, as well as the USA.

In Alaska, the pollock fishery is in the peer review stage for Certification. During this stage, the assessment team will assess the level of conformity to the principles of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO guidelines for ecolabeling for marinecapture fisheries.

The US puts catch limits

The US has become the first country that limits catches of all species managed in its territory, including Alaska which represents 80% of the total annual catch. The outlook for 2012 for both supply and markets is good. For fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, scientists recommend that groundfish stocks could sustain a catch of 2.5 million tonnes, while in the past a 2 million tonnes ceiling on total allowable groundfish catches was imposed as a conservation measure.

Cod stocks in New England appear to be much lower than expected

In Northern New England, the fishing industry is in a difficult situation. New scientific estimations indicate that cod in the Gulf of Maine is weaker than previously thought. The new data released recently completely reverses that picture and shows that cod was actually so overfished that even if fishing were to stop completely, stocks would not recover until 2014.

Argentina and Uruguay declared hake in a situation of biological risk

Argentina and Uruguay agreed a three month ban on hake fishing in their shared maritime zone to protect juveniles, contributing to the conservation of this valuable resource. The two countries agreed to limit catches in their shared waters to 50 000 tonnes annually. The spring ban started on 1 October and lasted until 31 December 2011.

In Argentina, the Federal Fisheries Council established the 2012 TAC for hake at 273 000 tonnes for the southern stock and 40 000 tonnes for the northern stock. The TAC for hoki was set at 140 000 tonnes.

Hubbsi hake landings from January to November 2011 totalled 264 300 tonnes, which represents an increase of 1.4% when compared with the same period in 2010. Hubbsi exports reached 94 144 tonnes, a 12% drop compared with the previous year’s figures. In value, exports grew by 9.4% to USD 268 million. This increase is due to higher prices, which increased by over 24.4%.

2011 hoki landings from January until November totalled 65 574 tonnes, a 7.3% decrease compared with the same period 2010. Exports totalled 16 039 tonnes for a value of USD 37.3 million.

Southern hake landings in Argentina fell slightly as well. Landings during the January-November period totalled 2 217 tonnes, which represents a 0.16% drop compared with the previous year’s figures. Patagonian toothfish landings increased by 29%, totalling 2 306 tonnes for the same period, continuing the improvement of the first six months of 2011.

Chile

In Chile, Pacific hake landings from the January to September totalled 34 000 tonnes, which represents a 6.1% drop compared with the 2010 figures for the same period. Hoki landings from January to September totalled 45 000 tonnes and southern hake landings reached 14 100 tonnes, a 17.6% drop compared with the same period in 2010.