Küstenfischer Nord eG Heiligenhafen Eastern Baltic cod

MSC status

Certified as sustainable in October 2011

Summary

Species: European cod (Gadus morhua)
Location: Eastern Baltic sea in FAO area 27, ICES areas IIId, 25-32.
Fishing methods:  Bottom trawl and Pelagic trawls
Vessels: 17
Number of fisheries: 1

More about cod

Cod are distributed widely throughout European waters, there are a number of separate and isolated populations that form local stocks. Spawning and recruitment success of cod in the eastern Baltic Sea depend at great extent of environmental conditions. Spawning is confined to deep areas where salinities are sufficiently high to allow egg fertilisation and to keep fertilised eggs float and sufficient oxygen content in deep saline water layer is crucial to egg survival.

Adult stages of cod feed mostly on sprat and herring and juvenile cod suffer also from cannibalism. The extent of cannibalism might differ depending on predator abundance and juvenile concentration, which depend upon the habitat volume occupied and the overall abundance of cod.

More about the fishing methods

The demersal or bottom otter trawl is a towed fishing gear designed and rigged to have bottom contact during fishing, towed by large trawl vessels, typically in excess of 15m. A demersal trawl is a cone-shaped net consisting of a body, closed by a codend and with lateral wings extending forward from the opening. The two towing warps lead from the vessel to the otter boards which act as paravanes to maintain the horizontal net opening. These boards typically weigh between 0.5–2 t and drag across the seabed (with potential to disrupt seabed structure and habitat). The boards are joined to the wing-end by the bridles which herd fish into the path of the net. The net opening is framed by a floating headline and ground gear designed according to the bottom condition to maximise the capture of demersal target species, whilst protecting the gear from damage. On very rough substrates special rock hopper gears are used.

Pelagic trawling is a method of trawling that is relatively benign, in that the net is suspended in midwater, rather than being dragged along or near the bottom of the sea. In the Baltic the position of cod within the water column is dependent on a number of environmental conditions, including vertical stratification of both salinity and oxygen levels. Elsewhere cod is predominately a demersal species targeted by demersal otter trawls, however in the Baltic cod often move up into the centre of the water column. As a result fishermen operate their gear at various heights within the water column.

Fishery tonnage

1,200 tonnes

Commercial market

The main seafood product from this fishery is clean cod which is distributed to France (74%), the Netherlands (25%) and Heiligenhafen (1%).

Actual eligibility date

1 January 2011