Product Code Database
The blue whiting ( Micromesistius poutassou) one of the two species in the genus Micromesistius in the order of Gadiformes, which also contains cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. It is common in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to Iceland and Spitsbergen. It also occurs in the northern parts of the Mediterranean, where it may be locally abundant. Blue whiting also occur in the northwest Atlantic Ocean between Canada and Greenland, but is considered rare. It has a long, narrow body and a silvery underbody. The fish can attain a length of more than 40 cm. The average length of blue whiting caught off the west shores of the UK is 31 cm.
A related species, southern blue whiting, Micromesistius australis, occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.
For 2012, ICES advised the catches should be no more than . ICES Advice September 2011. Blue whiting in Subareas I–IX, XII, and XIV (Combined stock) This large increase relative to the quota in 2011 (but not to the catches in 1998–2008) is caused by a revision in the stock assessment; however, recruitment to the stock is still low and the stock is forecasted to decline. The coastal states set the total quota for 2012 to 391,000 tonnes. Agreed Record of Conclusions of Fisheries Consultations Between Iceland, the European Union, the Faroe Islands and Norway on the Management of Blue Whiting in the North-East Atlantic in 2012
The fish is usually not marketed fresh, but processed into fish meal and oil. However, in Russia, southern Europe, and Japan, blue whiting are sometimes sold as food fish.
Quota advice for blue whiting in the northeast Atlantic is provided by ICES. For a long period, blue whiting fisheries were mainly regulated through nationally set quotas because there was no international agreement about sharing the total quota; consequently, the total catch greatly exceeded the advised quotas However, the Coastal States (the Faroe Islands, the European Union, Iceland and Norway) reached an agreement in December 2005, Press release: Broad agreement on fisheries between Norway and the EU ending the period of what was sometimes referred to as "Olympic fishing". Since 2006, the blue whiting fishery has been regulated under this agreement, which gives the greatest share to the European Union, but through quota swaps, Norway has been holding the largest annual quotas.
|
|
