The introduction of the discard ban and RTCs has led to creative pressure on research, management and industry to cooperate and contribute to technical and regulatory innovations in order to improve selectivity and reduce unwanted bycatches, and also to reduce various sources of unintended fishing mortality. One recent example is the development of the Excess Fish Exclusion Device which release fish to avoid too large catches in trawl and Danish seine. With the sharp increase in stock and availability of cod, burst nets and extensive non-registered fishing mortality caused by very large hauls in a short time, have become a problem. This challenge is now about to be successfully solved in a constructive co-operation between the industry, science and management [21].
5. Gains from improvements in the exploitation patterns
Below, Northeast Arctic cod is used to illustrate the potential gains from improvements in exploitation patterns. Fig. 3 shows the yield of NEA cod as a function of age-at-catch. With an initial stock of 1000 three-year-old cod where all are caught immediately, the total yield amounts to 724 kg live weight. If the catch is postponed until the fish are nine years old, many of the initial 1000 fishes have died from natural mortality, but due to the individual growth of the remaining fish, the total yield has nearly doubled to 1337 kg. The figure illustrates a central and general point with regard to potential gains from improvements in exploitation patterns.