Cod, haddock, saithe, herring, and capelin in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters: a review of the biological value of the area

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Authors: Olsen, Erik, Aanes, Sondre, Mehl, Sigbjørn, Holst, Jens Christian, Aglen, Asgeir, Gjøsæter, Harald
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2009
• Subjects: Barents Sea; Barentshavet; capelin; lodde; cod; torsk; haddock; hyse; herring; sild; VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Resource biology: 921; VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488; Barentshav*; Varanger
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108438; https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsp229

© 2009 The Author(s) This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cod, haddock, saithe, herring, and capelin are the most important fish species in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters. Ecosystem-based management requires species-specific knowledge of the biological value and vulnerability throughout their life history and distributional range. For each of the five species and four annual quarters, the spawning (egg) areas, nursery areas for larvae and juveniles, and feeding grounds for adults are described and mapped. Areas of eggs (spawning) and larvae were the most important because these are the life stages when fish are most vulnerable to anthropogenic impact. The greatest overlap of spawning areas was from Røstbanken in the south to the Varanger Peninsula in the northeast, and overlap of larval distribution was more extensive.