The recommended TAC is expected to decrease starting in 2015. Estimates for the long-term sustainable catch quota range between 700,000 and 800,000 metric tons (MT). The actual quota will not be set until October 2013.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas announced the 2014 recommended total allowable catch (TAC) for the North East Arctic cod on Friday, according to Norway's Institute for Marine Research (IMR). The new TAC is 993,000 MT, representing a 5.4 percent increase over the 2013 TAC of 940,000 MT.
But Bjarte Bogstad, scientist at the Bergen office of IMR and a specialist in stock assessment in the Barents Sea, said that the new TAC does not represent a significant change from 2013.
