Juvenile herring and capelin are the main stocks of plankton feeders in the Barents Sea, the cod is the dominant predator. Warm climate favours recruitment of herring and cod, but large stocks of juvenile herring hamper survival of the capelin fry. Since the early 1970s, the herring stock has been grossly overexploited, which could have led to an imbalance in the state of the predatorprey relationships in the Barents Sea. In the 1970s and early 80s, however, cod could feed on capelin which had excellent growth and recruitment conditions when the herring was absent. The consequences of the reduced herring stock were triggered in the mid 1980s, when excellent recruitment conditions for herring and cod occurred. Three abundant year classes of cod were recruited, but the herring stock was not sufficiently large to take full advantage of the favourable recruitment conditions. Given the lack of juvenile herring and a reduced capelin stock, the rapidly growing cod stock grazed down all other available prey species in the area, including its own progeny, and starved cod, seabirds and seals have in later years appeared on the north Norwegian coast. The capelin fishery collapsed, and the traditional coastal cod fisheries have been struck by the most serious crisis on record.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alvheim, O. (1985) Investigations on capelin larvae off northern Norway and in the Barents Sea in 1981–84. Proc. Soviet-Norwegian Symp. Barents Sea Capelin, Bergen-Norway, 14–17 August 1984. Bergen: Institute of Marine Research.
Anker-Nilssen, T. (1990) Sjøfuglsituasjonen i Barentshavet. Biolog nr. 1 (In Norwegian).
Anon (1975) Ressursoversikt for 1975.Fisken Hav., (Saernr. 1975). (In Norwegian).
Anon (1986) Årsberetning 1986. Feitsildfiskernes Salgslag. (In Norwegian)
Anon (1987) Report of the Atlanto-Scandian Herring and Capelin Working Group, Copenhagen 27–31 October 1986. ICES C.M. 1987/Assess:8.
Anon (1988) Report of the Arctic Fisheries Working Group, Copenhagen 14–24 September 1987. ICES C.M. 1988/Assess:5.
Anon (1989) Ressursoversikt for 1989. Fisken Hav., 1989 (Særnr. 1) (In Norwegian).
Anon (1993a) Miljørapport 1993. Fisken Hav., (Særnr. 1, 1993). (In Norwegian).
Anon (1993b) Report of the Atlanto-Scandian Herring and Capelin Working Group, Copenhagen 19–23 October 1992. ICES C.M. 1993/Assess:6.
Anon (1994) Report of the Arctic Fisheries Working Group, Copenhagen 24 August–2 September 1993. ICES C.M. 1994/Assess:2.
Barrett, R.T. and Vader, W. (1984) The status and conservation of breeding seabirds in Norway. Status and conservation of the world's seabirds (J.P. Croxall, P.G.H. Evans and R.W. Schreiber, eds) pp. 323–33. ICBP Techn. Publ. No. 2.
Dommasnes, A. and Røttingen, I. (1985) Acoustic Stock measurements of the Barents Sea capelin 1972–1984. A review. In Proc. Soviet-Norwegian Symp. Barents Sea Capelin, Bergen-Norway, 14–17 August 1984 (H. Gjøsaeter, ed.) pp. 5–24. Bergen: Institute of Marine Research.
Dragesund, O. (1970) Distribution, abundance and mortality of young and adolescent Norwegian spring spawning herring (Clupea harengus, Linne) in relation to subsequent year class strength. FiskDirSkr., Ser.HavUnders., 15, 451–556.
Dragesund, O., Gjøsaeter, J. and Monstad, T. (1971) Preliminary results of the Norwegian capelin investigations during winter and spring 1971. Coun. Meet. Int. Comm. Explor. Sea, 1971 (H:24): 1–14, 4.
Dragesund, O., Hamre, J. and Ulltang, Ø. (1980) Biology and population dynamics of the Norwegian spring spawning herring. Rapp. P-v. Reun. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer., 177, 43–71.
Gjøsæeter, H., Hassel, A., Loeng, H., Rey, F. and Skjolda, H.R. (1983) Preliminaere resultater fra tokt i Barentshavet med M/S “Lance” og F/F “G.O.Sars” i mai/juni 1983. Inst. of Mar. Research, Bergen Report F08310:1–21. (In Norwegian).
Gjøsæter, H. and Loeng, H. (1987) Growth of the Barents Sea capelin, Mallotus villosus, in relation to climate. Env. Biol. Fish 20, 293–300.
Gulland, J.A. (1965) Estimation of mortality rates. Annex to Aretic Fisheries Working Group Report (meeting in Hamburg, January 1965). ICES C.M. 1965, Doc. No. 3, 9 pp.
Hamre, J. (1985) Assessment and management of Barents Sea capelin. In Proc. Soviet-Norwegian Symp. Barents Sea Capelin, Bergen-Norway, 14–17 August 1984. (H. Gjøsæter, ed.) pp. 5–24. Bergen: Institute of Marine Research.
Hamre, J. (1988) Some aspects of the interrelation between the herring in the Norwegian Sea and the stocks of capelin and cod in the Barents Sea. ICES C.M. 1988/H:42: 1–15. (Mimeo).
Hamre, J. (1990) Life history and exploitation of the Norwegian spring-spawning herring. In Proceedings of the Fourth Soviet-Norwegian Symposium, Bergen 12–16 June 1989. (T. Monstad, ed.) pp. 5–39. Bergen: Institute of Marine Research.
Hamre, J. and Tjelmeland, S. (1982) Sustainable yield estimates of the Barents Sea capelin stock. ICES C.M. 1982/H:45: 1–24. (Mimeo).
Hjort, J. (1903) Årsberetning. Norg. Fisk., 1903. (In Norwegian).
Marty, J.J. and Fedorov, S.S. (1963) Features of the population dynamics of marine herring as seen from the Atlanto-Scandian stock. Rapp.P.-v. Reun. Cons. Perm. Int. Explor. Mer. 154, 91–97.
Mehl, S. (1989) The Northeast Arctic cod stocks consumption of commercially exploidted prey species in 1984–1986. Rapp.P.-v. Reun. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer. 188, 185–209.
Midttun, L. and Loeng, H. (1986) Climatic variation in the Barents Sea. Proceedings of the third Soviet-Norwegian Symp. The Effect of Oceanographic Conditions on Distribution and Population Dynamics of Commercial Fish Stocks in the Barents Sea, Murmansk, 26–28 May 1986.
Monstad, T. (1989) Distribution and growth of blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic 1980–1988. Proceedings of the fourth Soviet-Norwegian Symp. Biology and fishery of the Norwegian spring spawning herring an blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic. Bergen, 12–16 June 1989.
Monstad, T. and Gjøsaeter, H. (1987) Observations on polar cod (Boreogadus saida) in the Barents Sea 1973 to 1986. ICES C.M. 1987/G:13.
Møller, D. and Olsen, S. (1962) Lodda og loddefisket. Fiskets Gang 48, 27–36. (In Norwegian).
Olsen, S. (1965) Abundance estimates of Barents Sea capelin. FiskDir. Skr. Ser. HavUnders., 13, 76–82.
Olsen, S. (1986) Some results of the Norwegian capelin investigations 1960–1965. Rapp. P.-v-Reun. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer. 158, 18–23.
Ponomarenko, V.P. and Ponomarenko, I.Y. (1975) Consumption of the Barents Sea capelin by cod and haddock. ICES C.M. 1975/F:10: 1–6. (Mimeo).
Ponomarenko, I.Y. and Yaragina, N.A. (1978) Year-to-year and seasonal fluctuations in the feeding of the Barents Sea cod on capelin in 1947–1976. ICES C.M. 1978/G:24: 1–19. (Mimeo).
Prokhorov, V.S. (1965) Ecology of the Barents Sea capelin. (Mallotus villosus (Müller)) and prospectives for its commercial utilization. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. Trans. Ser. 813, 1–131. [Mimeo] (Translated from Russian).
Saetersdal, G. and Loeng, H. (1984) Ecological adaptation of reproduction in Arctic Cod. Pp. 13–35. Proc. of the Soviet-Norwegian Symp. Reproduction and Recruitment of Arctic Cod. Bergen: Institute of Marine Research.
Vader, W., Anker-Nilssen, T., Bakken, V., Barrett, R. and Strann, K.B. (1990). Regional and temporal differences in breeding success and population development of fish eating seabirds in Norway after collapses of herring and capelin stocks. Trans. 19th IUGB Congress, Trondheim, 1989.
Wiig, Ø. (1988) Selinvasjonen til Norskekysten. Fiskets Gang, 6, 18–19. (In Norwegian).
Øyestad, V. and Moksness, E. (1979) Interaction between Atlanto-Scandian herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) and capelin larvae (Mallotus villosus) in a concrete enclosure experiment. ICES D.M. 1979/F:52: 1–10. (Mimeo).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamre, J. Biodiversity and exploitation of the main fish stocks in the Norwegian - Barents Sea ecosystem. Biodivers Conserv 3, 473–492 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115154
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115154