Outlook for red king crab supply from Murmansk-led North Basin in 2007

Russia has announced a quota of 3.18 million crab individuals to be harvested in the Russian EEZ in the Barents Sea in 2007.

This figure is a little higher than the TAC of 3 million specimens set for the current year of 2006.

The next year allocation was announced at the recent 35th meeting of the Mixed Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission.

During the event, the Norwegians and the Russian delegation headed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Izmailov have agreed on separate management of the red king crab stock by the two nations in their EEZs in the Barents Sea as of 2007.

The agreement was preceded by the respective exchange of letters in 2006.

Norwegian quota

In this context, the Norwegians have informed the Russian colleagues that Norway has provisionally set  the Norwegian quota of the red king crab at 300,000 individuals east of 26 degree East in the Norwegian EEZ.

In the meantime, a report is being prepared by the government of the neighbouring country for its parliament to decide on the final figure.
Exchange

Despite separate management, the parties have agreed to continue exchange of scientific data on the stock abundance and trends under the mutual programme for 2005-2007.

The results of the activities will be presented at the meeting of the mixed commission in 2008.

The sides have also confirmed that there are still gaps in the knowledge of the stock and have agreed to hear interim results of surveys regarding abundance, migrations and environmental impact at the next annual meetings of the commission.