| Year |
Bottom Trawl
|
Gillnets
|
Other gears
|
Total
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of boats | Catch | Number of boats | Catch | Number of boats | Catch | Catch | |
| 2000 | 157 | 25 936 | 258 | 4 308 | 90 | 980 | 31 224 |
| 2001 | 138 | 24 586 | 308 | 4 549 | 65 | 757 | 29 892 |
| 2002 | 131 | 35 606 | 281 | 3 311 | 66 | 942 | 39 859 |
| 2003 | 123 | 45 096 | 246 | 2 214 | 72 | 1 097 | 48 407 |
| 2004 | 124 | 55 394 | 250 | 2 254 | 87 | 1 347 | 58 995 |
| 2005 | 130 | 59 947 | 210 | 2 996 | 84 | 1 399 | 64 342 |
| 2006 | 124 | 65 698 | 165 | 3 790 | 81 | 1 448 | 70 936 |
| 2007 | 120 | 56 092 | 135 | 3 919 | 103 | 1 312 | 61 323 |
| 2008 | 103 | 59 385 | 129 | 6 199 | 131 | 1 359 | 66 943 |
| 2009 | 109 | 46 731 | 135 | 9 380 | 127 | 1 440 | 57 551 |
| 2010 | 107 | 43 903 | 163 | 4 483 | 142 | 1 166 | 49 552 |
| 2011 | 104 | 40 991 | 157 | 3 451 | 129 | 1 487 | 45 929 |
| 2012 | 99 | 41 183 | 166 | 3 664 | 111 | 1 643 | 46 490 |
| 2013 | 102 | 48 813 | 145 | 3 109 | 98 | 1 383 | 53 305 |
| 2014 | 96 | 39 294 | 145 | 2 368 | 78 | 1 037 | 42 699 |
| 2015 | 95 | 41 358 | 141 | 2 425 | 96 | 1 197 | 44 980 |
| 2016 | 89 | 43 176 | 130 | 2 521 | 84 | 921 | 46 618 |
| 2017 | 85 | 44 748 | 109 | 1 350 | 73 | 977 | 47 075 |
| 2018 | 79 | 61 507 | 94 | 1 717 | 84 | 987 | 64 211 |
| 2019 | 69 | 58 836 | 96 | 1 425 | 65 | 1 461 | 61 722 |
| 2020 | 79 | 44 141 | 88 | 2 583 | 59 | 990 | 47 714 |
| 2021 | 84 | 53 482 | 105 | 2 979 | 74 | 1 201 | 57 662 |
| 2022 | 79 | 53 760 | 89 | 2 642 | 82 | 1 476 | 57 878 |
| 2023 | 79 | 36 430 | 96 | 1 335 | 78 | 937 | 38 702 |
| 2024 | 78 | 35 092 | 81 | 940 | 57 | 552 | 36 584 |
| 2025 | 70 | 33 592 | 59 | 1 850 | 55 | 1 281 | 36 723 |
Key signals
Catch has been below the TAC every year since 2013, with only ~55% of the 2024/25 TAC taken and discards being negligible (~0.1%).
Harvest rates remain consistently below all reference points (HRMGT, HRMSY, HRpa).
Spawning stock biomass (SSB) is currently above all key thresholds (Blim, Btrigger, Bpa).
Fishery composition is dominated by bottom-trawl effort, with minimal gillnet and other gear use; 2025 catch fell below 40 kt; the lowest annual catch since 2001.
Distribution has shifted northeast from 2002-2018 and the proportion of saithe caught northwest of Iceland increased from < 10% to ~50%.
TAC is set as Cy/y+1 = 0.2 × B4+, where B4+ is based on stock weights; this harvest-control rule was evaluated against the recent survey variability (ICES 2025).
General information
Saithe in Icelandic waters is managed as a one unit, though tagging studies have shown that in some years saithe migrates from distinct waters into Icelandic waters and vice versa. Saithe is both demersal and pelagic. They can be found all around Iceland, and most common in the warm waters south and southwest off Iceland. In the last decade the distribution has gradually become more northerly. In 2017 and 2018 more than 50% of the catches were taken northwest of Iceland. In 2024/2025 an increasing amount of saithe was also found in the northeast. Knowledge of saithe spawning in Icelandic waters remains more limited compared to that of other gadoid species. Spawning is thought to take place in shallow water (100–200 m) off the southeast, south and west coast of Iceland. The main spawning area is considered to be south/southwest off Iceland (Selvogsbanki, Eldeyjarbanki). Spawning has traditionally been considered to occur earlier than in cod; however, observations from the gillnet survey conducted in early April indicate substantial spawning activity occurring later than previously reported. Spawning appears to occur between February and April, with considerable interannual variability in timing. Larvae are transported clockwise around Iceland, and by mid-June juveniles of approximately 3–5 cm in length are widely distributed in coves, bays, and harbours. At age 2, individuals migrate to deeper waters during winter.
Saithe become mature at age 4–7. According to available data, approximately 115 thousand saithe were tagged in the NE Atlantic in the 20th century, most of them in the Barents Sea with total returns just under 20 thousand (Jónsson, 1994). Around 6 thousand saithe were tagged in Icelandic waters in 1964–65, the recapture rate being 50% (Jones and Jónsson, 1971). Based on recaptures by area, approximately 1 in 500 of tagged saithe released outside Icelandic waters were recaptured in Icelandic waters, and 1 in 300 released in Icelandic waters were recaptured in distant waters (Jónsson, 1994). For comparison, cod long-term emigration rate from Icelandic waters is 1 in 2000 tagged fish (Jónsson, 1996), a rate almost an order of magnitude lower. Other evidence of saithe migrations do exist, albeit of a more circumstantial nature. Sudden changes in average length or weight at age and reciprocal fluctuation in catch numbers at age in different areas of the NE Atlantic have been interpreted as signs of migrations between saithe stocks (Reinsch, 1976; Jakobsen and Olsen, 1987; Jónsson, 1994). Since mean weight at age decreases along an approximately NW to SE to NE gradient, migration of e.g. northeast arctic saithe to Icelandic waters will, theoretically, be detectable as a reduction in size at age in the Icelandic saithe catches. Catch curves from some year classes, from different areas show some reciprocal variations. Inspection of the data based on the above indicate that the most likely years and ages for immigration are as follows: Age 10 in 1986, age 7 in 1991, age 9 in 1993 and the 1992 year class as age 7 saithe in 1999 and 8 in 2000. No migrations are currently estimated in the assessment. In previous assessments, the migration of age 7 saithe in 1991 was included as it is the largest, estimated at around 10 million individuals or 35 thousand tonnes. The other potential migrations are smaller and not significant if estimated on “normal scale”. A tagging program was conducted in Icelandic waters in 2000–2004 from which ~1750 of ~16000 tags released have been returned. The number of returns from areas other than the Icelandic EEZ has now reached 10 or around 2.5% of the recaptures outside the management area of the stock. Most were tagged at eastern localities and recaptured in Faroese waters, with a pulse of tags recovered in early 2006. Other foreign returns have come from areas west of Scotland and east of Greenland. More tagging is planned in the future.
Fishery
Landing trends
Information on landings of saithe exist since 1905 (Figure 1). From 1905-1939 most of the catch was taken by foreigners, and also from 1950-1975 when foreigners, mostly Germans, accounted for 60% of the saithe landings (Figure 1). Mean annual catch of saithe has been 65 thous. tons since 1955, 73 thous. tons before 1980 but 60 thous. tons after 1980. In the last years, the catch by foreigners has always been less than 300 tons and 0.5%, of which nearly all the catch has been taken by Faroese vessels. Landings of Icelandic saithe in 2025 are estimated to have been 36,723t (see also Figure 1).
Over the past two decades, the majority of the catch has been taken by bottom trawl (83% in 2010–2017 and 90% in 2018–2023), with gillnets and jiggers accounting for most of the remainder (approximately 5% each; Figure 2, Table 1). The contribution of the gillnet fleet was higher in earlier periods, comprising 26% of the catch in 1987–1996 compared to 8% in 1998–2020. This decline reflects a general reduction in the number of gillnet vessels, which primarily target cod, as well as increases in mesh size in cod-directed gillnet fisheries. In 2024/2025, the proportion of catch taken by gillnets increased slightly. Prior to 1978, catches by foreign vessels were almost entirely taken by bottom trawl.
The reduction in the gillnet fleet was primarily driven by a shift from gillnets to longlines, largely associated with cod and haddock fisheries. As saithe is rarely caught by longliners, this transition has resulted in a fleet that is less directed towards saithe fishing than in earlier periods. The contribution of longlines increased gradually from 0.8% prior to 2000 to 2.2% in 2013–2016, before declining to less than 1% in 2021 and 2022.
The fleet using demersal trawl can be divided in two parts, those that freeze the catch and those that land it fresh. The trend in the last decade has been an increase in the trawler fleet that lands the catch fresh. Freezing trawlers have taken large proportions of the catch of saithe and redfish but much less of cod and haddock. The main reason for this is relative price of frozen vs fresh fish for each species. Mixed fisheries issues, like avoiding redfish when catching fish to be landed fresh, can be a factor, as redfish spines damage the catch. The same vessels are catching redfish and saithe in the same area but not in the same hauls. Redfish is mainly caught during daytime and saithe during the night.
Most of the saithe is caught by bottom trawl at 100-200 m depth (Figure 3). Other gears include gillnets that catch saithe at 50-200 m depth and Danish seine and handline that catch saithe at depths less than 150 m.
The spatial distribution of the saithe fisheries changed greatly from 2002–2014 (Figure 4, Figure 5). Before 2002 most of the saithe was caught south and west of Iceland, but since 2012, 40–50% of the catch has been taken northwest of Iceland. Comparable percentages before 2002 ranged 3–8%. Similar increases can be seen for golden redfish, but redfish and saithe have for a long time been caught by the same vessels, not necessarily in the same hauls, rather as a night versus day fishery.
The number of boats accounting for 95% of the total saithe catch has declined over time (Figure 6, Table 1).
Catch per unit of effort from commercial fisheries
Catch per unit of effort data from the bottom trawl fleet shows considerable variability, and has decreased considerably from its peak in 2018 (Figure 7). CPUE in the last three years is the lowest it has been since 2011. Unit effort is here hours trawled and the CPUE index for each year is the median of the CPUE for the selected hauls.
When compiling CPUE indices, deciding which hauls to base the analysis on is not straightforward. All hauls inside a particular area, all hauls with saithe recorded, or all hauls with saithe accounting for more than a defined proportion of total catch could be chosen. The larger the stated fraction, the greater the variability in the CPUE index.
CPUE in the last four years is not low as compared to earlier years, especially if the index is compiled based on all hauls where saithe has been registered. The question is then if data 15 years ago are comparable to modern data, owing to technological advances. However, CPUE indices show considerable similarity to total biomass index from SMB.
Discards
Discarding is not considered to be a problem in the Icelandic saithe fisheries, with an estimated discard proportion of 0.1% (Pálsson 2005, 2008; Sigurðsson et al. 2016). Recently, the fleet does also seem to have difficulty in catching the set TAC, making discards more unlikely.
Data and sampling
Commercial data
The samples used to derive catch in numbers are both taken by observers at sea and from shore samples (Figure 8, Figure 9). The trawlers that freeze the catch account for the majority of sea samples, while all shore samples are from fresh fish trawlers. In addition, relatively few fishes from sea samples are sampled for otoliths but the age-length keys are similar between sea and shore samples even though the length distributions differ. The bottom trawl sampling mostly covers the trend of the landings well.
Length distributions from sea and shore samples show some difference, where the shore samples show usually more large fish.
Length compositions
The bulk of the length measurements is from the four segments, i.e. trawls, Danish seine, gillnets and hand lines. The number of available length measurements by gear has fluctuated in recent years in relation to the changes in the fleet composition.
Saithe caught by gillnets are generally larger than those caught by bottom trawls (Figure 10). Length distributions from other gears are similar to those from bottom trawls.
Sampling from commercial catch has been revised in recent decades, the number of samples has reduced and also the number of otoliths per sample. Sampling in 2020 was much less than in the years before, the number sea samples and number of age samples was especially low. The main explanation seems to be the COVID-19 epidemic. In 2021 the sampling was back to the level in 2017-2019 but has reduced again in 2022-2024 (Table 2).
Around 90% of the length samples are taken from trawl that accounts for ~90% of the catches.
Length distributions from bottom trawl show a tendency to catch smaller fish from 2003–2017 but again larger fish in 2018–2020. In 2020 the +110 cm group was especially abundant, but proportion of 60-69 cm fish was above average in 2022. In 2024, an increased amount of larger saithe was caught by bottom trawls, which decreased again in 2025. Gillnets in general tend to catch larger saithe than bottom trawls.