Stock structure of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in West Greenland waters: implications of transport and migration

Abstract

Abstract Atlantic cod in West Greenland waters have varied greatly in abundance and distribution in the past decades. Strong year classes yielded good catches inshore and offshore in the late 1980s, but since then cod have been nearly absent offshore and the inshore fishery has been depressed, though there has been a small increase inshore over the past few years. Different components contribute to the Greenland cod stock, and re-analysed tagging experiments indicate that migration behaviour differs between them. Inshore cod are sedentary, with almost no migration between different fjord systems. In contrast, there are many cases of alongshore migration of cod tagged on the offshore fishing banks. Further, observations have been made of occasional migrations from offshore to inshore, notably so in years of good recruitment originating from Icelandic waters.