26. A Preliminary Report on the Norway Lobster (Nephrops norvégiens) in Icelandic Waters By A. SlGURßSSON Atvinnudeild Hàskôlans, Fiskideild, Reykjavik The Icelandic catch of Norway lobster comes from The catch the fishing areas off the south and south-west coast The Norway lobster fishery has been of commercial (see Figure 1 ). A comparison of this figure with Table 1 importance since 1958, reaching 728, 1,404, 2,081, shows that there are a few principal fishing areas, 1,490 and 2,672 metric tons in the years 1958, 1959, especially Areas 146-148 and Area 169. The Norway 1960, 1961 and 1962, respectively. The yield figure lobster fishery is allowed only in waters deeper than for 1962 includes 10 tons taken as by-catch in other 60 fathoms. fisheries. The catch per trawling hour, for all areas The following report is based on the data available combined, during the first three months of the season for the years 1960-62. It should be noted that the 1962 was smaller in 1962 than in 1960. O n the other hand, data have been brought up to date after the meeting. the catch per trawling hour in August and September vT "- 15$ 157 170, 173 174 175 176 Figure 1. The fishing areas for Norway lobster off Iceland. 143 Table 1. Icelandic catch per trawling hour of N e p h ro p s in the years 1960-1962 1960 May June July August September No. No. Kg No. Kg No. Kg No. Kg No. Kg of Area of hours per hour of hours per hour of hours per hour of hours per hour of hours per hour 1960 106 __ 4 15 __ 146 92 126 718 112 1,220 89 759 50 64 16 147 -- 163 172 121 99 ---- 148 -- 812 75 340 63 356 68 - - 152 -- 350 112 84 94 ---_ 154 ------ 10 230 __ 166 ---- 6 88 68 100 __ 168 -- 18 72 70 54 ---_ 169 -- 584 68 1,234 93 232 34 -_ 170 -- 401 80 641 70 62 20 -_ 171 ---- 32 52 45 182 - _ 173 - - 58 108 19 171 - -- - All areas, 1960 92 126 3,108 93 3,767 85 1,532 58 64 16 1961 146 __ 223 48 686 42 78 67 _ 147 --_- 64 49 __-_ 153 -----_ 3 nil — — 154 --- --- 129 61 - - 1962 104 __ _ _ 3 7 _ 106 ---- 1 1 -___ 125 -- 51 88 _--___ 126 -- 99 86 97 73 ____ 144 ---- 18 25 --__ 145 16 39 124 90 53 24 ---_ 146 1,021 110 4,920 83 4,874 62 2,414 65 __ 147 295 115 216 77 112 62 -_-_ 148 789 98 363 78 285 60 339 58 __ 152 -- 71 78 ----__ 153 48 81 62 53 -- 36 23 __ 154 48 33 86 66 292 79 114 46 69 57 164 -- 16 8 ______ 166 ---- 28 64 ____ 168 -- 67 50 48 56 131 56 __ 169 491 88 1,275 96 1,932 80 97 53 __ 170 83 68 86 64 124 88 ---- All areas, 1962 2,791 100 7.436 84 7,867 67 3,131 62 69 57 was greater in 1962 than in 1960 (see Table 1 and The data on catch per hour for 1961 are very scarce. Figure 2, which show the catch per trawling hour by However, those for Area 146 show a small catch areas and by months for the years 1960-62). Figure 2 compared with the data for the preceding and the shows that, as a rule, the catch is largest in the spring following years (Figure 2). Moreover, the catch per and decreases during the summer. landing was smaller in 1961 than in 1960 and 1962 (Table 2 and Figure 3). 144 120 Area 146 Area 169 120 00 100 6 0 6 0 40 40 20 20 Area 154 Areas 160 140 20 120 Kg. Kg. per Trawling Hour 100 80 I9 6 0 60 6 0 40 20 20 M J J A S M J J A S M J JA S Months Figure 2. Catch per trawling hour of Norway lobster (kg). I960 2000 196 1750 1962 500 ccn T3 C 250 _io Cl 750 500 250 Figure 3. Catch per landing of Norway lobster and the by-catch (kg). 145 Table 2. Total catch of Norway lobster and by-catch, and catch per landing in 1960, 1961 and 1962 (all fish gutted with head on) 1960 1961 1962 No. of landings.......................... 1,454 1,327 1,256 Total catch K g per 0 / Total catch K g per Total catch K g per 10 °/o 0 / (Kg) landing (Kg) landing (Kg) / 0 landing Norway lobster.......................... .......... 2.080,918 33-3 1,431 1.490.107 28-3 1.123 2,662,277 41-5 2,120 H addock........................................ .......... 890,724 14-2 613 1.122,830 21-4 846 1,023,744 16-0 815 C o d .................................................. ......... 1.075.936 17-2 740 718.546 13-7 541 718,247 11-2 572 W itc h ............................................. .......... 727.434 11-6 500 514.804 9-8 388 402.957 6-3 321 R ed fish .......................................... ......... 478.183 7-6 329 246.834 4-7 186 515.364 8-0 410 L i n g ............................................... ......... 317,805 5-1 219 353,129 6-7 266 486,844 7-6 388 C a tfis h ........................................... ......... 143,195 2-3 98 192,593 3-7 145 88.720 1-4 71 Lem on sole ............................................ 132,967 2-1 91 182,917 3-5 138 82,324 1-3 66 P la ic e ........................................................ 154.057 2-5 106 167,512 3-2 126 89.535 1-4 71 H a lib u t...................................................... 96,956 1-6 67 89,370 1-7 67 51,914 0-8 41 Torsk ........................................................ 6.167 0-1 4 85,254 1-6 64 2.051 0-03 2 M egrim ...................................................... 37.423 0-6 26 18,650 0-4 14 30,676 0-5 24 Coalfish .......................................... ......... 29,254 0-5 20 11.003 0-2 8 17.796 0-3 14 Common skate ..................................... 16,183 0-3 11 15,837 0-3 12 12.170 0-2 10 Other species and w aste.......... 65,081 10 45 48,334 0-9 36 229.646 3-6 183 T o ta l................................................. 6,252,283 100-0 4,300 5,257,720 100-1 3.962 6,414,265 100-0 5,107 T otal by-catch............................... 4.171,365 66-7 2,869 3,767,613 71-7 2.839 3,751,988 58-5 2,987 The length distribution ing in kg. The table also shows the percentage in the Figure 4 shows the length distributions of Norway total catch, both of Norway lobster and fish. lobster in Area 146. Only one sample is available from Figure 3 shows the catch per landing, both of this area for the year 1960 and none for the year 1961. Norway lobster and by-catch. The amount of the From the beginning of June to the end of August 1962 latter is considerable, but as licences for the lobster fourteen samples of Norway lobster were collected trawling are valid only in waters deeper than 60 from Area 146, five of which have been selected for fathoms, the by-catch consists mainly of m ature fish illustration in Figure 4, as they show the main features and therefore does not constitute any serious problem. of the changes in the length distribution for this period. All the samples are from commercial catches. Table 3. These changes are not very pronounced for the greater The percentage of the Norway lobster with carapace part of the season. In June there were fewer small length less than 37 mm, and those less than 43 mm; also individuals in the samples than were found in July, the percentage of males and females in each sample especially in the sample for 10. July (Table 3). After (Carapace length x 3-29 = total length) that the number of small individuals decreased until Percentage with the beginning of August when it began to rise, and in carapace length ?? (Jo the last days of that month it had risen so high that Date o, < 37 mm < 43 m m °/o 10 the fishery was stopped on 31. August, except off the 8. J u n e ..................... 6-3 42-5 2-7 97-3 easterly part of the south coast, where two or three 11.J un e..................... 3-8 27-9 1-3 98-7 boats were fishing in September. 21.J une..................... 2-7 22-0 1-1 98-9 The percentage of females in the samples rose and 25. Ju n e ..................... 2-0 22-4 0-3 99-7 fell with the percentage of small animals (Figure 4 3.-4. Ju ly ................ 10-7 34-3 3-5 96-5 7-J u l y ..................... 17-5 42-7 7-1 92-9 and Table 3). 10. J u l y ..................... 22-7 52-1 14-8 85-2 12. J u l y ..................... 16-2 42-8 11-8 88-2 17. J u l y ..................... 11-4 33-8 5-8 94-2 2. A ugust................ 11-4 29-7 7-4 92-6 The by-catch 13. A ugust................ 16-4 37-3 14-8 85-2 Table 2 shows the total catch of Norway lobster 20. August................ 24-8 47-9 17-7 82-3 24.-26.