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TAC AND QUOTA ALLOCATION

The Ministry of Fisheries issues regulations for commercial fishing for each fishing year, including an allocation of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) from each of the stocks subject to such limitations. The allocations for the fishing year September 1 2008 to August 31 2009 have been announced by Regulation 638/2008.

The TACs for groundfish stocks in the fishing year 2008/2009 are listed in the following table together with the recommendations of the Marine Research Institute (MRI) based on scientific assessment of the same stocks.

Stock

TAC–Recommendation
MRI
2008/2009
in tonnes

TAC – Allocation
Ministry of Fisheries
2008/2009
in tonnes

Atlantic cod

  124,000

130,000

Haddock

83,000

93,000

Saithe (Atlantic pollock)

50,000

   65,000

Golden redfish (ocean perch)

30,000

(1)  50,000

Deepsea redfish (ocean perch)

10,000

Greenland halibut

(2)  5,000

15,000

Ocean catfish (wolffish)

12,000

13,000

Plaice 

5,000

6,500

Witch 

1,600

2,200

Dab 

(3)

1,000

Lemon sole 

1,600

2,200

Long rough dab 

(3)

1,000

Tusk 

5,000

5,500

Ling

6,000

7,000

Monkfish

2,500

3,000

(1) Combined allocation for golden redfish and deepsea redfish in Icelandic waters.

(2) Recommended for the stock as a whole.

(3) Recommendation is for no targeted fishing of dab or long rough dab.

The TACs for Icelandic summer-spawning herring, scallops, Norway lobster and northern shrimp are as follows:

 

TAC–Recommendation
MRI
2008/2009
in tonnes

TAC – Allocation
Ministry of Fisheries
2008/2009
in tonnes

Icelandic herring

131,000

150,000

Scallop 

nil

nil

Norway lobster (nephrops)

2,200

2,200

Inshore shrimp (1)

    400

(2)

Offshore shrimp (3)

   7,000

7,000

(1) MRI recommends max. 400 tonnes in Snæfellsnes area. 

(2) There is no TAC allocation for inshore shrimp but local vessels under 105 GRT are allowed to fish in designated areas. Landings are subtracted from offshore allocations of the vessels.

(3) Provisional, pending further assessment

The fishing period for the herring allocation is from Sept 1 2008 to May 1 2009. 

Deepwater shrimp fishing in the Dohrnbank area is not subject to a TAC but vessels fishing in the area must nevertheless report their daily catch in their log book and report their fishing to the Directorate of Fisheries.

The TAC for capelin in Icelandic waters was set at 207,000 tonnes in the 2008 winter season.  This included close to 152,000 tonnes for Icelandic ships while Norwegian vessels were allowed to fish about 39,000 tonnes, Faroese vessels 10,000 tonnes and Greenland vessels about 7,000 tonnes. (Regulations 231/2008, 232/2008).

Fishing of Norwegian spring spawning herring (Atlanto-Scandian herring) is subject to regulation (350/2008). The TAC for Icelandic ships is 220,262 tonnes in 2008.

By regulation (1271/2007), Icelandic ships are allowed to fish  202,836 tonnes of blue whiting in 2008 in the international area administered by the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). 

By regulation (322/2008), Icelandic ships are allowed to fish  21,083 tonnes of oceanic redfish in 2008 in the international area administered by NEAFC.

By regulation (510/2008), Icelandic ships are allowed to fish  13,500 tonnes of northern shrimp in the international area of the "Flemish Cap" in 2008.

Icelandic ships are allowed to fish within the EEZs of Norway and Russia in the Barents Sea. By regulation (1270/2007), the TAC in 2008  is close to 8,100 tonnes, chiefly cod.

By decision of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Iceland has been allocated 51 tonnes of bluefin tuna from the East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Seas in 2008.

Latest update July 2008

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The Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries