Outlook for fisheries in Russia's Far East in second quarter of 2010
TINRO-Centre fishery research institute has made public the outlook of water and weather conditions in the seas of the Russian Far East, potential catches and distribution of fishing objects in zones and subareas in the second quarter of 2010 both for the territorial sea and the Russian EEZ, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/) with reference to fishery sources in Vladivostok.
The A season of the pollock fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk will finish in the beginning of the second quarter of the year. The APO fishing in the Bering Sea will restart while in the Sea of Okhotsk the APO fishery will continue in the waters of East Sakhalin.
The fishing season 2010 of Pacific salmon will take off with large-scale inshore fishery in mid-quarter.
Along with the above species, the fishermen will be able to harvest squid in North Kurile subarea.
The scientific outlook also covers the analysis of the results of the annual outlook in the first 2 months of the year 2010. According to the scientists, the Basin's fishermen harvested 452,000 tonnes in January-March 2010, the result including 447,000 tonnes of finfish. The harvest was contributed by pollock at 90.9%, the pollock catch namely amounting to 410,000 tonnes, 70,000 tonnes up on last year.
Duly started fishing, satisfactory ice conditions on the fishing grounds in this period contributed to the Basin's larger catches, 50,000 tonnes up on the last year results.
Notably, the beginning of the crab fishing in the current year also occurred in due time and the catches of crabs also exceeded the previous year results.
Meanwhile, the herring catch in the Sea of Okhotsk and the harvest of the Gizhigino-Kamchatka herring decreased by 25,000 tonnes in comparison with the last year results due to absence of vessels targeting this object.
Catches of shrimps, scallops and sculpins also come down.
In the second quarter of the current year scientists recommend the fishermen to harvest 557,000 tonnes of finfish and other aquatic species, of which 265,000 tonnes should be harvested in the territorial waters of the Russian Far East and 292,000 tonnes should be covered in the Russian EEZ.
In the Bering Sea the recommended catch of Russian pollock amounts to 55,000 tonnes in the second quarter while 36,000 tonnes of APO are recommended to be fished in the waters of East Kamchatkaб including 24,000 tonnes to be harvested in the territorial waters. The same volume of APO is recommended for capture in the South and North Kuriles with 17,000 tonnes to be covered in the inshore waters. In the North Okhotsk subarea in the first ten days of April 2010 it is recommended to harvest 78,000 tonnes of Russian pollock, while 17,000 tonnes are recommended to be harvested by small and medium-sized vessels in the subareas of West Kamchatka.
The recommended APO catches in the East Sakhalin subarea of the Sea of Okhotsk amount to 7,300 tonnes in Q2. About 6000 tonnes of pollock are allowed for capture in the Sea of Japan. The summarized volumes of pollock recommended capture amount to 235,000 tonnes in Q2.
With the end of the APO season and awaited prolongation of the herring season till 1 May 2010 the fleet may switch to fishing of this object, the harvest of which is recommended at 30,000 tonnes in the North Okhotsk subarea and 16,000 in the Gizhigino-Kamchatka subarea, while the catch of spawning herring in these areas may amount to 25,000 and 11,000 tonnes correspondingly.
In the second quarter 2010 the commercial fleet may harvest about 14,000 tonnes of salmon species with the first catches (about 5000 tonnes) expected in the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea. In West Kamchatka the scientists recommend the fishermen to harvest 1100 tonnes.
The recommended catches of grenadier in the West Bering subarea amount to 6000 tonnes as well as in waters of North Kuriles.
About 14,000 tonnes of capelin are recommended to be caught in the North Okhotsk subarea and in the coastal areas of the zone.
The harvest of all crab species is recommended at 17,000 tonnes, including 7000 tonnes in the North Okhotsk subarea.
The recommended catch of shrimps does not exceed 3000 tonnes of which 1,000 tonnes are allowed for capture in the West Bering zone.
The scientists say that 22,000 tonnes of squid are recommended for capture in the North Kuriles in the second quarter of the year 2010 along with about 19,000 tonnes of Atka mackerel in the same fishing area.
According to provisional figures, in the second quarter of 2009 the total catch amounted to 397,000 tonnes where the share of Russian pollock was 223,000 tonnes, cod - 16,600 tonnes, Atka mackerel - ca.20,000 tonnes, flounders - ca.41,000 tonnes, herring - 14,500 tonnes, crabs of all species - 14,800 tonnes, shrimps - 1,400 tonnes and squids - 10,300 tonnes.