Mixed finish for Kamchatka salmon season

As per mid-August Kamchatka has nearly closed the salmon season with relatively optimistic results but taking into account the last year results and the projections for fishery in Sakhalin the picture is certainly not so bright, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ with reference to the region's government. 

With the season about to close in the area Kamchatka fishermen have harvested in excess of 220 000 metric tons of salmon species including 135 000 tonnes of pinks in the West Coast. By comparison in 2010 (the previous even year with best runs in the West Kamchatka) the region harvested 152 000 tonnes of various salmon species.

The total salmon harvest in Sakhalin and South Kuriles is projected at some 80 000 tonnes to nearly halve the overall salmon catch in the Russian Far East on 2011 when more than 500 000 tonnes of salmon were harvested.

As a result, the key market players are holding prices high for the most popular commodity -pink salmon- in a hope that the shortage will enable them to sell at as high as RR80 per kilo wholesale for head-on gutted product in Moscow.

They are holding out against the cautious attitudes of the domestic and Chinese buyers who are staking on the downward trend while the producers are gambling on the overall relative shortage.

It must be noted however that this season is especially abundant in terms of chum salmon catch.

Meanwhile in the situation of high prices for wild salmon the Norwegians are actively snatching the market share in Russia. In particular, exports of Norwegian Salmon products to Russia saw the biggest volume increase of all Norwegian Salmon markets in the first half-year, up by 25,000 tonnes or 67% to a total of 63,000 tonnes. Russia is Norway's second biggest salmon export market after France.