The Davis Strait - DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi

Figure 5.1.5. The total annual
catch of lumpsucker, salmon and
redfish in West Greenland from
1996 to 2010. The black line for
lumpsucker shows the combined
catch reported for Pamiut, Nuuk,
Maniitsoq and Sisimiut, i.e. the
assessment area (data from
APNN).
154
Catch per year (tonnes)
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
40
30
20
10
0
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Lumpsucker
Salmon
Redfish
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
Capelin, Mallotus villosus
Capelin is not fished commercially, but caught for local consumption. There
have, however, been several trial fisheries targeting roe-bearing females, latest
in 2007, but these have been unsuccessful in finding exploitable resources
of capelin. In September 2005, an acoustic survey showed considerable concentrations
of capelin in several Greenland fjords, including two in the assessment
area (Bergstrøm & Wilhjámsson 2006). Especially the Nuuk fjord
(64˚N) had high concentrations of capelin, whereas only small capelin concentrations
were found outside the fjords along the Greenland west coast.
However, yearly trawl surveys conducted by the Greenland Institute of
Natural Resources along the coast show that capelin migrate to the shelf area,
where they presumably spend time from autumn to winter (Friis-Rødel
& Kanneworff 2002). No other reliable capelin biomass estimates exist and
the current stock status is unknown.