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Unfortunately, cod in the North Sea have suffered terribly from disastrous overfishing. The harvest has fallen from over 15,000 tonnes in 1980 to about 2,000 tonnes tones today, a decline of 87%.

The main spawning areas for cod in the North Sea are in the central North Sea around the Dogger Bank and in the southern North Sea and the German Bight. There is also a center of spawning in the northern North Sea in the Moray Firth. An average mature female carries around five hundred ripe eggs per gram body weight, which equals five million eggs for a 10Kg (100 cm) fish. Spawning takes place between January and April, and at that time, the eggs which are about 1.4 mm in diameter, are found floating in the surface layers over large areas of the North sea.

Cod typically hatch over a period of 2-3 weeks, depending on water temperature. After hatching at a length of about 4 mm, the young fish grow to between 20 and 80 mm by June, and are mainly concentrated in the eastern and northern parts of the North Sea. By the following winter, the young fish are between 13 cm and 26 cm in length and are concentrated in the shallow coastal waters of the eastern North sea. Cod aged 1 and 2 years old can be found all over the North Sea, although by age 3 they are distributed mainly towards the northern North Sea.

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