Unless action is taken, the cod in the Kattegat will vanish completely, according to the Marine Laboratory in Lysekil, Sweden. Multiple surveys performed by the laboratory during this year have not discovered any new cod recruits.
According to a study previously conducted by the Swedish Board of Fisheries, the Kattegat cod stock is in its poorest state ever. “We have not been able to find any young cod at all, in the southern or middle part of the Kattegat, says Henrik Svedäng of the marine laboratory in Lysekil.
Fishing pressure is the main culprit for the rapid decline, larger than various environmental factors, according to Henrik Svedäng. “The reason is excessive fishing pressure, and the fact that the Kattegat spawning stock is on its way to disappear. It is currently too small. There is hardly any individuals older than 2 years, which proves that the fishing pressures is too high. The fish is not able to survive more than two years”, says Svedäng.
Currently EU ministers of fisheries and agriculture are meeting in Brussels to negotiate the 2008 fish quotas for EU waters. The EU Commission has proposed a 25% reduction in Total Allowable Catch for cod in the Kattegat, and ICES has recommended zero catch for the sixth year in a row.