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Coley

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Coley

Description

Coley or Saithe are a predatory fish that is related to cod and pollack.  

Sustainability Overview

This cold water preferring fish is only occasionally caught by Cornish fishers. Little is known about the status of Coley populations in Cornish waters, however it is occasionally caught and offered for sale. Coley are not directly targeted but are occasionally caught on handlines, in gill nets and in trawls. Landings are low and appear to have declined in recent years. 

Landings to Cornish ports were 30 tonnes in 2022, worth £64.7k.

Updated October 2024

Sustainability ratings for this species

Hook and line

Cornish waters VIIf g and h

Handlining is a simple fishing method where hooks on lines are used to catch fish in a very traditional and sustainable way.

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Demersal Trawl

Cornish waters VIIf g and h

Demersal trawls are large nets that are pulled through the water with the bottom edge of the net touching the seabed.

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Gill Netting

Cornish waters VIIf g and h

Gill nets are lightweight nets made of nylon (monofilament) fishing line that are anchored to the seabed and are used to catch fish by entangling the gills. This method has bycatch concerns for several groups of animals.

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How we rate fish

Cornwall Good Seafood Guide rates fish on sustainability using a scale of 1 to 5.

1, 2 and 3 are recommended, Fish to avoid are rated 5.

We use the system devised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) so our scores are comparable with the scores produced by MCS for the UK and fisheries from all around the world. For more information on scoring click here.

Biology

Coley or saithe are a long lived gadoid fish belonging to the same family as cod and Pollack. They look very simmilar to a pollack but are more dark grey on their dorsal (top) side and their lateral line is straighter. Resilience rating for Coley provided by Fishbase.org is medium. As a gadoid fish, coley has a preference for cooler waters meaning it may not do so well in Cornish waters in years to come (Cefas, 2023).

Stock Info

In Cornish waters Coley is rarely caught  total landings to Cornish ports in 2022 was 30 tonnes and the landings have declined historically (412 tonnes in 1995) and have been low and stable since 2017. There is no data on Coley in area VII published by ICES. This is a data poor species, however there is no concern for fishing pressure in our area, in part due to the recent reduction in pollack fishing, but some concern for biomass (stock) giving a stock score of 0.5.

Management

There is no management for Coley in Cornish waters, no quota is in place. They are caught in mixed fisheries using fishing methods that also target pollack and historically would also have caught cod. Due to the rarity of cod and the concerns for pollack stocks the targeting of coley using gill nets and trawls would present to high a risk for these other red rated stocks.

The large reduction in pollack fishing means that, currently, coley is facing lower fishing effort. 

Capture Info

Coley are usually caught by gill nets (often wreck netting) and in demersal (otter) trawls. Both these methods have issues with selectivity and impacts on the wider environment and non target species (by catch). Demersal trawling has an impact on the seabed.
 
Occasionally they are caught by handlining, a more selective method of fishing. 

Where to buy

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Cornwall Good Seafood Guide is underpinned by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Fish Guide. The first UK consumer guide to sustainable seafood. For more information visit www.fishonline.org

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