Russian scientists revealing guidelines for salmon catch 2012

Kamchatka scientists forecast that in 2012 the nation's salmon harvest will go down by 45% to 275,000 MT versus 503,000 MT in 2011, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/.

The above mentioned recommended catch includes ca.170,000 MT of pink salmon, ca.70,000 MT of chum salmon, 31,000 MT of sockeye, more than 3,000 MT of coho salmon and ca.850 MT of Chinook salmon.

At the same time, scientists suppose that there are some reserves to raise recommended catches of Kamchatka salmons, though definite figures can be collected in the period of spawning runs.

Besides, recommendations as to sockeye catches will depend on the quota given to the Japanese side in the Russian EEZ. However, the Japanese fleet strongly suffered as a result of the last year earthquake, therefore the Japanese presence in the Russian EEZ in 2012 could be not very high at the last year level.

According to further reports, some Sakhalin scientists however think that salmon catches in the southeast of Sakhalin and in the Terpenia Bay may turn out to be higher that forecasted. In particular, pink salmon catches may be 50,000 MT higher. Such optimism relies on large scale culture of pink and chum salmons by state and private hatcheries. Another factor favoring high survival rate and the following abundant runs of mature fish to the island's rivers is warming up of the waters in the North Pacific where the feeding base for Pacific salmons grows up more quickly.