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These fisheries pages are the definitive source of fisheries information, and contain the most up-to-date information about assessments. We are currently testing a new fishery search tool and are seeking your feedback during the development process. Before switching to the new search please note that assessment documents may be missing for some fisheries during this beta phase.

 

Euronor saithe

Euronor saithe fishery

Certified as sustainable on 10th March 2010.

Summary

Species:  Saithe (Pollachius virens)
Location:  The North Sea and the Arctic Ocean (ICES subareas I, II and IV)
Fishing methods:  Bottom trawl
Vessels:  7
Number of fisheries: 1

More about saithe

Saithe is a large fish in the cod family (Gadidae). It is distributed across the North Atlantic in the Barents Sea, around Greenland and Iceland, in the North Sea and as far south as the Bay of Biscay and North Carolina (although rare on the edges of this range). It is gregarious, and is known to migrate ontogenetically and for spawning. Adult saithe are piscivorous, feeding on smaller fish.

In the eastern Atlantic, juvenile saithe are distributed in coastal waters – in the fjords on the coast of Norway, for example. They reach mature age around 3 years, and at the same time migrate offshore where they live as adults roughly between 200 and 400 m depth.

More about the fishing methods

The gear used to fish for saithe is a standard demersal otter trawl. The trawl mesh size must be at least 100mm in EU waters ICES Subarea VI, 110mm in EU waters ICES Subarea IV and 120mm in Norwegian waters. Euronor uses 120mm throughout its fishing area, in both EU and Norwegian waters.

Fishery tonnage

16767 tonnes in 2007.

Commercial market

The main commercial market is for fresh and frozen fillets mainly to Spain, France, Eastern Europe and Russia.

Actual eligibility date

15th October 2009

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