Report of the Ad hoc Group on Icelandic Cod HCR Evaluation (AGICOD)

The TAC of Icelandic cod has for the last 3 years been set by a HCR where the TAC for the next fishing year (September 1st to August 31st) is the mean of the TAC last fishing year and 20% of biomass of 4 year and older cod in the beginning of the assessment year. With the exception, that the Minister of Fisheries raised the TAC from 130 to 160 kt for the fishing year 2008/2009 in the last days of the outgoing government in January 2009. The set HCR rule was based on the recommendation by a
group of experts appointed by the Minister. The objective was to evaluate a harvest control rule that lead maximum long term economic revenue of the fisheries. Their
work was based on a model taking into account biological and economic factors. The results are described in a report that has been available in Icelandic since 2004, an
English translation is included in the appendix of this report.