capelin

Overfishing was largely to blame in the first capelin collapse, which began in 1984.

In the Barents Sea, for example, warm years tend to boost numbers of both herring and cod, which then eat into capelin stocks more than they do during cooler years, he says.

To increase the sustainable harvest of highly valued cod, he suggests, fisheries managers might consider stricter fishing limits for capelin and, to further support the capelin population, they should allow larger herring catches.

It also makes "a very convincing ease" that capelin recovery depends on the abundance of cod, she says.