Precision and relevance of pre-recruit studies for fishery management related to fish stocks in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters. Proceeding of the sixth IMR-PINRO Symposium Bergen, 14-17 June 1994Abundance indices of 0-group Sebastes mentella from the international 0-group survey in the
Barents Sea showed a sudden decrease from 1990 to 1991 to a low level which remained for
three years. The strength of these weak yearclasses has been confirmed in later youngfish
surveys, and is supposed to be a result of a historic low spawning stock. A big directed fishery
in former years, and huge by-catches and discards of small Sebastes mentella in other fisheries
have due to the late maturity of this species not until now resulted in a serious reduction of
the spawning stock, A directed trawl fishery in more recent years on mature fish on new
fishing grounds has probably speeded-up this negative development