Russia boosting recommended catch of Japanese pilchard and Pacific mackerel

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF) has considerably increased the recommended catch of Japanese pilchard and Pacific mackerel for 2021, reports Megafishnet.com.

In particular, in the Russian Far East the total for the two non-quota species has been boosted to 740 000 MT (25.4% up from 590 KT in 2020).

Possible catch of the Japanese pilchard increased by 37% to 480 thousand metric tons with mackerel rising less impressively by 8% to 260 thousand MT.

In 2020, the actual catch of these two species amounted to 366 thousand metric tons jumping 80% on the catch in 2019 as pilchard contributed 313 thousand MT – an absolute record for the post-Soviet times.

According to VARPE (All-Russia Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters), the combined potential catch of Japanese pilchard, mackerel and saury in the Russian Far East is in the range of 1 million metric tons. Pilchard is to account for more than 70% of the catch. VARPE believes that the harvest growth will not cease in the next 10 years and this opens up new prospects for the Russian fishermen.

Approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, The Strategy for The Development of the Fisheries Sector Until 2030 has set a target of raising the pelagic catch (above three species put together) to 650 thousand MT, of which up to 350 thousand tons will be used for food production while 300 thousand tons to be processed into meal and oil. The food products mostly include canned and marinated items.

VARPE is also working on improving the requirements for the frozen pilchard’s shelf life towards an increase from the current one year to two years with modern freezing technologies and modern reefer transport in mind.

There is also potential for export.

According to VARPE, in 2019 fishermen exported 34.8 thousand tons of pilchard, cardinal and sprat, Japanese pilchard accounting for the greater part of the sales generating USD 15.8 million.

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