Barents Sea catch and quota progress in March 2021

During the third month of 2021 Russian fleets operating in the Atlantic Ocean harvested 106,000 tonnes of fish, 17,600 tonnes up on February 2021, reports Megafishnet.com. 

Bottom trawl fishery

According to Fishnet.ru, bottom trawl fishery in the Barents Sea was run by up to 73 medium and 35 small vessels coming from Murmansk-led North Fisheries, along with 3 Kaliningrad trawlers. The trawlers were operating in three areas of the sea:

• in the Norwegian EEZ, where the fishery was the most active – 39,400 tonnes or +9,800 tonnes (74% of the total March catch), including 30,900 tonnes of cod, 4,900 tonnes of saithe, 2,400 tonnes of haddock, 1,000 tonnes of redfish and 200 tonnes of other fish species;
• in the Russian EEZ (less active fishing operations) - 12,200 tonnes of fish or +2,200 tonnes (24%), including 1,400 tonnes of cod, 300 tonnes of flounder and 200 tonnes of sea cat and other fish species.

Flounder

Dedicated flounder fishery was conducted by up to 14 small vessels. Their total harvest amounted to 246 tonnes, including 80% of flounder.

Longline fishery

Bottom longline fishery in the Barents Sea was run by 11 vessels from the Northern Basin and one vessel from St. Petersburg. Just like trawlers, the longliners preferred working in the Norwegian EEZ (79%) and to a lesser extent in the Spitsbergen area (12%) and in the Russian EEZ (9%). In March 2021 Russia’s longliner fleet harvested 2,800 tonnes of fish. The above catch consisted of 37% of cod, 52% of sea cat, 4% of haddock, 3% of halibut, 1% of redfish and 3% of other fish species.

In January-March 2021 Russian fleets operating in the Barents Sea harvested 102,600 tonnes of cod (cod quota remainder – 73.4%) and 18,300 tonnes of haddock (82.5%). For comparison, last year the respective results were 103,900 tonnes of cod and 19,90 tonnes of haddock.

Snow crab

In March 2021 the snow crab trap fishery in the Barents Sea was conducted by 9 vessels coming from Murmansk and 3 vessels from the Russian Far East. They altogether harvested 1,785 tonnes of snow crab (+1,247 tonnes) through the month. The total harvest from January to March 2021 amounted to 2,324 tonnes of snow crab out of the TAC of 13,250 tonnes. In 2020 the snow crab catch as per March 31 totalled 328 tonnes.

Shrimp

The shrimp fishery in the Russian waters of the Barents Sea was conducted by 5 vessels coming from Murmansk. They harvested 938 tonnes of pink shrimp through the month. The total catch from the beginning of the year amounted to 1113 metric tons. Last year the fishery was conducted by 12 Russian vessels and the total catch by the end of March amounted to 4,291tonnes.

BARENTS SEA: Dynamics of Russian catches and quota progress in January-March 2020-2021

Notes: 1. Russia’s halibut quota includes 2000 tonnes of halibut bycatch; 2. Russia’s deepwater redfish quota includes 2000 tonnes allocated as bycatch. 3. Source of catch data: Fishnet.ru

For copyright please contact Vera Aldokhina at vera@megafishnet.com.