Blue ling (Molva dypterygia) in Subareas 1, 2, 4 and Division 3.a

In the Northeast Atlantic, blue ling (Molva dypterygia) is distributed from the Barents Sea along the coast of Norway to the west of the British Isles, around the Faroe Islands and Iceland and off the east coast of Greenland. ICES now works with three different stocks for this area (Figure 1):

· bli.27.5a14, blue ling (Molva dypterygia) in Icelandic and Greenland waters

· bli.27.5b6712, blue ling (Molva dypterygia) in Celtic Seas, Faroes grounds, Rockall, Hatton Banks and Mid-Atlantic Ridge

· bli.27.123a4, blue ling (Molva dypterygia) in Northeast Arctic, North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat

Biological investigations in the early 1980s suggested that at least two adult stock components were found within the area, a northern stock in Subarea 14 and Division 5.a with a small component in 5.b, and a southern stock in Subarea 6 and adjacent waters in Division 5.b. However, the observations of spawning aggregations in each of these areas and elsewhere suggest further stock separations. This is supported by differences in length and age structures between areas as well as in growth and maturity. Eggs and larval data from early studies also suggest the existence of many spawning grounds.

This stock annex is for bli.27.123a4 and this stock area was defined after a revision of bli.27.nea in WGDEEP 2024. See detailed description of this process in WGDEEP report, section 4.1 Stock description and management units.

New genetic information (McGill et al 2023) clearly separates the eastern, Norwegian areas (subareas1-4) from the western areas (Atlantic basin: Greenland, Rockall, Atlantic slope). This information was the background for separating subarea 12 from the eastern areas (and include this subarea to bli.27.5b67).