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The NAFC Marine Centre has recently completed a one-year study on ling, funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Industry Science Partnership 2010-11.
Ling is one of a number of species that are important to the Shetland, and Scottish, fleet but that is recognised as being data deficient. In recent years quotas have decreased under the precautionary principal to the point where discarding is now occurring. However anecdotal evidence suggests that the stock may be increasing.
This has been the first study focusing on ling in the northern North Sea. During the study both fisheries and biological data were collected. This has enabled the ling catches by the trawl fleet in the northern North Sea to be described and it has provided information on much of the basic biology of ling, which has previously been lacking.
Dr Chevonne Angus who managed the study said: “When the problems with ling were brought to our attention we worked with industry to secure funding through the SISP programme so that this work could be undertaken.
“Unfortunately the scientific knowledge base for ling was such that we were practically starting from scratch but this study has been an important first step in addressing the data deficiency. The data and report have been passed to the ICES Working Group responsible for the ling assessment so these should feed into the system next year.
“As always we would like to thank industry for their co-operation in completing questionnaires, tallybooks and hosting fisheries observers on their vessels.”
The final report is available from Chevonne.Angus@nafc.uhi.ac.uk and from the SISP section of the Marine Scotland Science website.
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