Icelandic whitefish vessels could face a tie-up situation in July and August as the cod quota nears exhaustion
The Icelandic whitefish fleet is facing a choke situation as their cod quota is running out fast with 19,647 tonnes, or just under 12% of the issued quota remaining.
Many fishing boats have been docked and will not start fishing again until August or 01 September 2023, when the new fishing quota season begins, with many boats already not having landed a catch in over a month.
There are still some resources of cod left for the inshore fishing fleet, but again, it is expected that the inshore pool of quota will be finished by the middle to July next.
The fleet has approximately 5,853 tonnes of haddock and 5,405 tonnes of redfish left to fish, however, there is a massive 43,827 tonnes of saithe left to catch before 31 August 2023.
The lack of cod, haddock and redfish quota seems likely to close the fishery down leaving the saithe quota unfished.