Acoustic estimates of spawning cod off Lofoten in 1986

The annual survey on the spawning stock of North-east Arctic cod were\ncarried out in the Lofoten area in March 1986. This survey was\nundertaken to estimate the size and age structure of the spawning cod\non the main spawning grounds. The area used in the estimation this\nyear is the same as in the Lofoten survey in 1985, including a larger\npart of the area north of Lofoten compared to earlier years. However,\nthe extent of covering in time is less this year than in 1985. The\nestimated number of spawning cod in the same area in 1985 was found\nto be about 24 million specimens. This is a reduction of 35 percent\ncompared to the result in 1985. No estimate is given for the Møre\narea this year. This is because that it is clear that the abundance of\ncod at Møre is very small and not measurable.