Faroe Islands’ Flemish Cap cod quota falls by 650 tonnes

The Faroe Islands’ cod quota for the Flemish Cap fishing grounds will fall by 650 tonnes next year, KVF reported, after a decision at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization’s annual meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The total cod quota for the Flemish Cap will be 12,452 tonnes, an 18 per cent decrease from this year. The Faroese share will be 2,783 tonnes, down from 3,433 tonnes.

The cod stock has fluctuated since fishing reopened in 2010. NAFO members agreed to keep fishing pressure cautious to allow the stock to recover.

The Faroe Islands will also have a 63-tonne cod quota for Grand Bank, 23 tonnes more than this year. Shrimp fishing will be allowed there again after a ban that has been in place since 2015. The Faroese shrimp quota will be 18 tonnes.

Before the ban, the Faroe Islands repeatedly protested the allocation, arguing that they received too small a share in a provisional division in 1999 despite having historical catch records that other member countries did not.

Next year’s quotas for Greenland halibut and redfish will also be small, at 182.8 tonnes and 69 tonnes respectively. NAFO is an international fisheries organization for the northwestern Atlantic.