Barents Sea catch and quota progress to November 2020

In November 2020 the Russian fleets have been harvesting cod, haddock, halibut, crabs and other species, reports Megafishnet.com. 

Bottom trawl fishery

According to FishNet.ru, bottom trawl fishery in the Barents Sea was conducted by up to 67 medium and 35 small vessels coming from Murmansk-led Northern Basin, along with 3 Kaliningrad trawlers and 1 small vessel from St. Petersburg. The Russian fishery still took place mostly in the Russian zone of the Barents Sea (87% of the November bottom trawl catch), where 23,800 tonnes of fish were caught (+4,900 tons), including haddock – 12,300 tonnes, cod – 10,000 tonnes, flounder – 1,000 tonnes, catfish - 400 tonnes and other fish species - 100 tonnes. Russian catches in the Spitsbergen area totaled 3,400 tonnes (13%) of fish, 1,200 tonnes down on October. The catch included 2,900 tonnes of cod, 200 tonnes of catfish and haddock each, and 100 tonnes of other fish species.

Since the beginning of the year the fishermen harvested 293 thousand tonnes of cod and 83,8 thousand tonnes of haddock  in the Barents Sea. The respective results of 2019 were 309.8 thousand tonnes of cod and 71.7 thousand tonnes of haddock.

As per end of November, the Russian quota remainder for cod fishery, according to provisional estimates, amounted to 9.1%, haddock - 13.3%.

Dedicated black halibut fishery

The dedicated black halibut fishery in the Barents Sea was carried out by three vessels coming from the Northern Basin. In November, the Russian fleet conducted the most active operations in the Spitsbergen area and contributed 77% of the November catch in this type of fishery. A small-scale fishery was carried out in the Norwegian EEZ, where about 23% was caught. During the period under analysis, 2,000 tonnes of fish were caught (-1,600 tonnes) with halibut accounting for 98%. From January to November 2020 10.7 thousand tonnes of black halibut were harvested in the Barents Sea out of the Russian quota of 12,225 tonnes, including 2,200 tonnes to be covered as a by-catch and 750 tonnes for research fishery.

Longline fishery

Longline fishery for bottom fish in the Barents Sea was conducted by 10 vessels from the Northern Basin and 1 vessel from St. Petersburg. Mainly, longlines were set in the Russian zone (92% of the catch during the period under analysis), and one vessel from St. Petersburg (8%) was operating in the Spitsbergen area. Through November they altogether harvested 2,200 tonnes of fish (-200 tonnes on October), including cod (67%), sea cat (16%), haddock (15%) and other finfish (2%).

Pink shrimp

In the first half of November the pink shrimp fishery in the Barents Sea was conducted by two vessels coming from the Russian Far East and one vessel from the Northern Basin. By the end of the month only one trawler Severny Oryol from the Northern Basin continued fishing. During the month, 193 tons (-677 tons) of pink shrimp were caught. The fishery took place in the international waters (64% of the November catch in this type of fishery) and in the Russian zone (36%). From the beginning of the year through to November, the Russian fleet caught 21,247 tonnes of shrimp, down from 27,756 tonnes to November 2019.

Red king crab

The trap fishery for red king crab in the Russian zone of the Barents Sea was carried out by up to 5 vessels from the Northern Basin and 1 vessel from the Far Eastern Basin. Through the month they altogether harvested 1010 tonnes of crabs (-3389 tonnes). Since the beginning of the year by the end of November, the Russian fleet harvested 10,890 tons of red king crab out of the TAC of 10,940 tonnes. In 2019, as per November 30, Russia’s catch of red king crab in the Barents Sea was 9,885 tonnes.

Snow crab

Up to 8 vessels of the Northern and up to 4 vessels of the Far Eastern Basins were targeting snow crab, and their total catch was recorded at 2,000 tonnes (+1,544 tonnes) of opilio. From the beginning of the year, the snow crab catch totalled 13,071 tonnes (TAC 13,250 tonnes), while last year the respective result was 9,821 tonnes.

BARENTS SEA: Dynamics of Russian catches and quota progress to November 2019-2020

Notes: 1. Russia’s halibut quota includes 2200 tonnes of halibut bycatch; 2. Russia’s deepwater redfish quota includes 2000 tonnes allocated as bycatch.

Source: Fishnet.ru

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