Arctic Fisheries Working Group (AFWG)

• Main Authors: Aune, Magnus, Bernreuther, Matthias, Bogstad, Bjarte, Campbell, Neil, Eidset, Elise, Fall, Johanna, Aanestad Godiksen, Jane, Gundersen, Sofie, Höffle, Hannes, Howell, Daniel, Husson, Berengere, Johannesen, Edda, Malekiyourtchi, Yasaman, Nedreaas, Kjell, Ono, Kotaro, Staby, Arved, Stock, Brian, Tallman, Ross, Aas Tranang, Caroline, Trochta, John Tyler, Vihtakari, Mikko Juhani, Vollen, Tone, Windsland, Kristin
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ICES 2024
• Subjects: Text; ddc:630; AFWG > Arctic Fisheries; Barents Sea; golden redfish; Greenland; Sebastes mentella
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25970272; https://www.openagrar.de/receive/openagrar_mods_00098815; https://www.openagrar.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/openagrar_derivate_00060961/dn068534.pdf

Since 30 March 2022, all Russian Federation participation in ICES has been suspended. Although the announcement of the suspension stressed the role of ICES as a “multilateral science organization” this suspension applied not only to research activities but also to the ICES work of providing fisheries advice for the sustainable management of fish stocks and ecosystems. As a result of the suspension, it is not possible to run ICES stock assessments or provide ICES advice for the Barents Sea stocks of NEA cod, NEA haddock, capelin, beaked redfish (Sebastes mentella), or Greenland Halibut, as management and data collection for these stocks are shared between Norway and Russia. There are therefore no AFWG stock assessments for these stocks this year. Assessment and advice for these stocks are being conducted outside ICES through the bilateral Russian-Norwegian group, the Joint Russian-Norwegian Arctic Fisheries Working Group (JRN-AFWG). The most recent assessment reports are available via the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) website: • The report of the JRN-AFWG 2023 is available here: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/nettrapporter/imr-pinro-en-2023-7 The JRN-AFWG 2023 capelin report is available here: https://www.hi.no/en/hi/nettrapporter/imr-pinro-en-2023-9 The assessments in 2022 and 2023 occurred outside ICES but were based on the stock annexes previously agreed within ICES, used the same data and models as previously, and were conducted by the same Russian and Norwegian scientists that were involved in the previous ICES assessments. The managing body in the Barents Sea (the Joint Norwegian Russian Fisheries Commission; JNRFC) has endorsed this approach and has used the advice from the JRN-AFWG as the basis of management following the same procedures previously used for ICES advice. There is therefore currently no possibility to produce, and no current management need for, ICES assessments for these stocks. This year AFWG is providing ICES advice for saithe, coastal cod north and coastal cod south and golden redfish (S. ...