The recovery of the Barents Sea capelin (Mallotus villosus) from a larval point of view

The recovery of the Barents Sea capelin is studied with larval surveys in the period 1986-1991. Very few larvae were found in 1986, 1987 and 1988, but the abundance of capelin larvae increased from 1989 back to the normal larval “stock size” found in the early eighties. In 1990 the highest index of abundance for the period 1981–1991 was recorded. Distribution maps, larval mortality estimates, length frequency distributions and abundance indices of capelin larvae are presented. No inverse relationship was found between recruitment success and mortality rate of first feeding larvae. However, there is a strong working hypothesis of an inverse relationship between capelin recruitment and predation by young herring on the late larval and juvenile stages in the period 1983–1985. If the years with young herring in the system are extracted from the data set an inverse relationship between recruitment success and larval mortality rate exists for the present period. The recruitment success of the capelin in the period 1981–1990 can be put into three different categories, bad recruitment in 1983–1985, moderate recruitment in the periods 1981–1982, 1986–1987 and 1990, good recruitment in 1988–1989.