Photo: Stein Trondstad, Norwegian Polar Institute.

The commercial fisheries in the Barents Sea Ecoregion target few stocks. The largest pelagic fishery targets capelin using midwater trawl. The largest demersal fisheries target cod, haddock, and other gadoids; predominantly using trawls, gillnets, longlines, and handlines. The crustacean fisheries target deep-sea prawn, red king crab, and snow crab. Most catches of crabs are from coastal areas. Harp seals and minke whales are also hunted in the region. Fisheries overview in the Barents Sea is available on https://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2019/2019/FisheriesOverview_BarentsSea_2019.pdf

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Photo: Audun Narvestad, Norwegian Polar Institute.

Management of the minke whale is based on the Revised Management Procedure (RMP) developed by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. Inputs to this procedure are catch statistics and absolute abundance estimates.

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Photo: Stein Trondstad, Norwegian Polar Institute.

Fishing activity in the Barents Sea is tracked by the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). Figures 3.9.4.1 and 3.9.4.2 show fishing activity in 2017-2019 based on Russian and Norwegian data. VMS data offer valuable information about temporal and spatial changes in fishing activity.

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Photo: Ann K. Balto, Norwegian Polar Institute.

Anthropogenic litter were observed at every fourth (pelagic) and every second (bottom) station, and plastic dominated among all observations. Amounts of plastic and other litter are relatively low in comparison to other sea areas.

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