ICES Advises Zero Catch on Norway Pout Over Critically Low Stock

ICES has issued advice on fishing opportunities for Norway pout in the North Sea, Skagerrak, and Kattegat in 2022/23 2023/24 ICES advises zero catch of Norway Pout

ICES advises zero catch of Norway Pout for 2025-2026 as spawning stock biomass falls below critical limits

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has issued a second consecutive year of zero-catch advice for Norway Pout in the North Sea, Skagerrak, and Kattegat. The advice, effective from November 1, 2025, to October 31, 2026, is based on a stock assessment revealing that the Spawning Stock Biomass ( $SSB$ ) is now below both the Precautionary Approach Biomass ( $B_{PA}$ ) and the critical Limit Biomass ( $B_{lim}$ ).

Details on the Stock Status and Decline

The Norway Pout is a short-lived species, making its population highly dependent on successful annual recruitment (the number of young fish entering the stock). The stock’s dramatic decline and the need for a zero-catch mandate stem from:

Critically Low Biomass: The $SSB$ has fallen to a level where the probability of successful future recruitment is impaired, placing the stock outside safe biological limits.
Successive Recruitment Failures: The population has suffered from very poor recruitment in 2023, 2024, and 2025, preventing the stock from recovering.
Forecasted Risk: Projections for the fourth quarter of 2026 show that the $SSB$ is expected to remain below $B_{lim}$ , reinforcing the need for a complete halt on fishing to promote recovery.

Fishery Context and Historical Catch

The Norway Pout fishery is an industrial fishery, with the species primarily caught for reduction into fishmeal and animal feed, mainly by vessels from Denmark and Norway.

Previous Ban: The 2025-2026 zero-catch advice follows an identical recommendation for the 2024-2025 fishing season, also issued due to declining stock and low recruitment.
Catch Decline: Historical catch data shows a significant drop, for instance, from 129,497 tonnes in 2020 to 35,724 tonnes in 2022, and approximately 27,356 tonnes in 2023, reflecting both reduced quotas and the scarcity of fish.
MSY Approach: The ICES advice is delivered under the Maximum Sustainable Yield ( $MSY$ ) approach, which aims to maintain the stock at a level that can produce the highest catch over the long term. The zero-catch advice is a necessary measure within this framework when stock levels become dangerously low.