ICELANDIC CAPELIN TAC ANNOUNCED

Icelandic capelin TAC announced. Iceland’s Marine Fisheries and Research Institute has advised that the capelin TAC for the 2022/23 fishing year be no more than 275 705 tonnes, which corresponds to a 57 300 tonnes increase from the advice given on 4 October 2022. The advice is based on combining survey estimates of the capelin stock from autumn 2022 (763 thousand tonnes) and from a survey conducted on 23-30 January (732 thousand tonnes).
The survey in January was conducted in collaboration on MFRI vessels, research vessels Bjarni Sæmundsson and Árni Friðriksson, and fishing vessels Jóna Eðvalds SF, Heimaey VE and Ásgrímur Halldórsson SF. Surveying conditions were mostly decent except for the westernmost part of the area, where sea ice limited coverage.
The advice is based on leaving 150 thousand tonnes for spawning with 95% probability, accounting for predation.
Click here at the advice documentation to read.
The capelin or caplin (Mallotus villosus) is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans.In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin also eat a great deal of krill and other crustaceans. Among others, whales, seals, Atlantic cod, Atlantic mackerel, squid and seabirds prey on capelin, in particular during the spawning season while the capelin migrate south. Capelin spawn on sand and gravel bottoms or sandy beaches at the age of two to six years. When spawning on beaches, capelin have an extremely high post-spawning mortality rate which, for males, is close to 100%. Males reach 20 cm (8 in) in length, while females are up to 25.2 cm (10 in) long.[1] They are olive-coloured dorsally, shading to silver on sides. Males have a translucent ridge on both sides of their bodies. The ventral aspects of the males iridesce reddish at the time of spawn.