North Sea cod avoidance plan

The National North Sea cod avoidance plan (NCAP) was introduced in 2020. The plan seeks to address two key issues: 1) to support recovery of North Sea cod (now assessed as part of the wider Northern Shelf cod stock) and, 2) to support the fishing industry to manage their quota. This plan mainly focuses on spatial measures to avoid catching an abundance of cod.

A number of seasonal closures became statutory as part of NCAP, and have been retained since. Further seasonal closures and amendments to existing closures were agreed for 2026 and are operational from 1 January 2026. Further information on NCAP, including the seasonal closures and other measures, can be found on the Scottish Government NCAP webpages: UK national North Sea cod avoidance plan - gov.scot.

Real Times Closures (RTCs) and Real Time Reporting (RTR) in particular will help manage quota issues for the fleet.

This plan mainly focuses on spatial measures to avoid catching an abundance of cod. Whilst spatial measures are difficult to quantify, our previous experience of using spatial measures such as RTCs (particularly during the Cod Recovery Plan) demonstrates that such measures can have an observable effect on cod mortality and biomass.