It is the human activity with the largest spatial extent, as fishing takes place in most of the Barents Sea except farthest north. There is a multinational fishery operating in the Barents Sea using different fishing gears and targeting several species. The largest commercially exploited fish stocks (capelin, cod, and haddock) are now harvested at fishing mortalities close to those in the management plan and have full reproductive capacity. Some of the smaller stocks (golden redfish Sebastes marinus and coastal cod in Norway) are overfished. Other species subject to targeted fisheries include Greenland halibut, halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus, beaked redfish Sebastes mentella, deep-water shrimps, red king crabs, and snow crabs.
