Atlantic cod

Stock Status Score: 0

Icelandic cod is abundant and not subject to overfishing.

Stock assessments are carried out annually by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The most recent assessment was published in 2026 using data up to 2026. The next assessment is expected in 2027.

The stock assessment defines reference points for harvest rate (HR) and biomass (B). For the harvest rate, there is a target to keep HR at or below Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). For biomass, there is no target. However, there is a trigger point (MSY BTrigger). Below this level, HR should be reduced to allow the stock to increase. Because BMSY is not defined, the Good Fish Guide applies its own definition of 1.4 x MSY BTrigger.

Catches peaked at over 500,000 tonnes in the 1950s, gradually declining to around 150,000t in the 2000s, and are currently around 220,000t.

The spawning-stock biomass (SSB) was at low levels throughout the 1970s to early 2000s, close to the lowest safe biological limit (Blim: 125,000 tonnes). It increased to over 530,000 tonnes in 2017 and has since declined to 377,277t in 2026. However, SSB remains 42% above MSY BTrigger (265,000t) and slightly above the GFG proxy for BMSY (371,000t). Therefore, the stock is not considered overfished.

The Harvest Rate (HR) was high between the 1950s and 2000s, exceeding levels associated with Maximum Sustainable Yield (HR MSY, 0.22). However, HR has been below HR MSY since 2022, in 2025 HR was 0.198, this is 90% of HR MSY and indicates that the stock is not currently subject to overfishing.

Based on Iceland's management plan, catches in the fishing year 2026/2027 should be no more than 201,674 tonnes. This is a slight decrease to the advice from the previous year.

Management of the Target Stock Score: 0.25

Alignment with Scientific Advice Score: 1

Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Score: 0

There is a management plan in place, which has successfully reduced fishing pressure. All Icelandic cod landed by the Icelandic fleet is MSC certified. Catch limits have consistently been aligned with scientific advice, however total catches have been above advice and limits for the last 5 years and thus are not effectively controlled. Additionally, management is not adequately controlling the impacts of the fishery on bycatch species. Fully comprehensive monitoring, control, and surveillance with highly effective enforcement and negligible IUU fishing activity. 

The ISF Iceland Cod fishery is the primary MSC‑certified fishery for Icelandic cod and holds certification without conditions, indicating that no improvements to management are required. Fisheries management and legislative implementation fall under the responsibility of the Icelandic Ministry of Industries and Innovation (MII).

Iceland has strengthened management measures across major commercial stocks, including cod, haddock, saithe, redfish and herring. These improvements have contributed to reduced fishing mortality, increased stock sizes and lower pressure on benthic habitats.

A Harvest Control Rule (HCR) is in place for cod and is reviewed every five years. ICES considers the HCR precautionary, as it aims to maintain the stock at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). The HCR forms the basis for setting annual catch limits.

Several additional management measures support stock protection. Fishing is temporarily prohibited in areas where more than 25% of the catch (by number) is small cod under 55 cm, although scientific advice suggests these short closures may have limited effect on juvenile protection. Cod spawning grounds are closed for two to three weeks during the spawning season. The minimum codend mesh size in trawl fisheries has been set at 135 mm since 1998, larger than typical UK and European standards, with the intention of reducing catches of undersized fish. Discarding unwanted fish at sea is prohibited, although ICES estimates that approximately 1% of cod landings are still discarded, with indications that this may be increasing. There is no minimum landing size for cod in ICES Division 5.a, but economic penalties apply to landings valued below a minimum threshold to discourage retention of small fish.

The HCR sets annual Total Allowable Catches (TACs), and Iceland has aligned TACs with ICES scientific advice since 2010/11. Landings have exceeded TACs in all but two years since 1988, generally by less than 10%. Between 2018 and 2022, landings averaged 264,010 tonnes, approximately 4% above the average TAC of 254,677 tonnes.

The Icelandic government attributes TAC overages to several factors: quota transfers between years or species, allowances for undersized fish, catches by foreign vessels operating within Iceland’s EEZ (primarily Norway and the Faroe Islands), and research catches. TACs apply only to Icelandic fleets, which account for roughly 99% of total catch. Iceland’s scientific advisory body continues to recommend that all fishing mortality, including foreign catches, be incorporated into TAC-setting decisions.

Foreign access agreements allow Faroese vessels to take up to 5,600 tonnes of demersal species annually within Icelandic waters, including a maximum of 1,200 tonnes of cod. Norwegian catches also occur under bilateral agreements. Historically, these foreign catches were not included in the Ministry’s TAC allocation to Icelandic vessels.

According to the 2023 ICES stock assessment, fishing pressure on Icelandic cod is now below MSY, and the stock is no longer subject to overfishing.

Iceland maintains an extensive Monitoring, Control and Surveillance. Key elements include publication of individual vessel quotas, independent verification and recording of landings, gear restrictions and inspections, and mandatory electronic catch logs.

The Icelandic Coast Guard has authority to intercept and inspect vessels operating within the EEZ. Satellite-based vessel monitoring (AIS and VMS) is mandatory for all vessels, regardless of size, providing continuous oversight of fishing activity.

A development with MCS within this fishery is the rapid expansion of drone‑based monitoring, which began experimentally in 2022 and now allows inspectors to detect anomalies, observe gear and identify discarding through live‑streamed footage. New long‑range drones introduced in 2025 can operate up to 20 nautical miles offshore, apply AI to analyse fishing activity and reduce the need for inshore physical inspections. Iceland also led a Nordic Council project on remote fisheries monitoring, and infringement reporting increased to 371 cases in 2024, with discarding and weighing irregularities accounting for most sanctions.

Capture Method Score: 0.5

Habitat Impacts: 0.25

Bycatch Impacts: 0.25

Vulnerable and ETP Species: 0.5

Ecosystems and Trophic Webs: 0.25

Some cod is caught by gillnetting. Gillnetting can have a bycatch of vulnerable species such as cetaceans and seabirds. There are a number of measures in place to reduce bycatch, but more needs to be done to ensure they are effective.

100% of Icelandic cod landed by the Icelandic fleet is MSC certified. Around 50% of cod catches are from bottom trawling, 30% from longlining and the remainder from gillnetting, demersal seine and hooks or jigs. The MSC certification is conditional on having a strategy to avoid bycatch, and better data to prove that it is not having a detrimental impact on Endangered, Threatened or Protected species.

Bycatch reporting in this fishery is mandatory. Gillnet effort has been reducing over the last couple of decades, which is likely to have reduced bycatch. However, there are no mandatory mitigation measures. There have been trials on some types of pinger, but these increased porpoise bycatch, and so have not been adopted. Further research is underway.

Gillnets and fixed nets can be very size selective, with low levels of fish bycatch. Cod, lumpfish, Greenland halibut and saithe account for 96% of catches. However, there can be bycatch of marine mammals and seabirds.

On average from 2014-2017, over 1,000 harbour porpoises and 50 seals were bycaught annually in this fishery. Populations of grey and harbour seals species have declined since the 1980s, but this appears to be mainly related to hunting. Bycatch levels in this fishery are not expected to have population-level impacts. The harbour porpoise population in Iceland has been increasing since 2005, and it is estimated that the population could sustain a bycatch of up to 3,500 individuals annually. As current bycatch rates are below this, the fishery does not appear to be having an impact.

Average seabird bycatch from 2014-2017 was around 1,400 northern fulmars, 470 common guillemots and 170 northern gannets. Removals of guillemots and gannets are thought to be small proportions of the total populations. However, northern fulmar is declining. Causes could include sandeel declines, as this is important prey. Gillnet bycatch could account for 3% of the decline, and could therefore be having a population-level effect.

Sharks and skates are taken as bycatch in Icelandic fisheries, but catch rates are incomplete and the status of stocks is unknown. The endangered Atlantic halibut is impacted by fisheries around Iceland, so a mandatory release of viable halibut and a landings ban were introduced in 2012.

Because of gillnets' durability (they are made of nylon), if lost, they can continue to fish for several weeks before becoming tangled and bundled up, a phenomenon known as 'ghost fishing'. However, static nets, as with all gear, represent an investment by fishermen, and therefore there are incentives to avoid losing or damaging gear.