Bleak forecast for red king crab season 2007 in the Russian Far East

The fishery forecast "Red King Crab-2007" has been presented to the public at the recent meeting of the biological section of the TINRO-Centre scientific council.

According to the TINRO-Centre, in 2007 the fleets of the Russian Far East Basin are recommended to harvest 5631 tonnes of red king crab, of which 1201 tonnes have been allocated for research purposes and 4430 tonnes for commercial fishery.

The commercial fishery of red king crab in the current year 2007 is allowed only in the North Okhotsk, West Kamchatka and Kamchatka Kurile subareas. In the remaining six subareas the scientists recommend only monitoring and research operations.

According to the scientists, the persisting illegal red king crab fishery and continuously diminishing abundance of the stock in all the subareas of the Russian Far East Basin can lead to a complete ban for commercial fishery of the species in the future.