Overview of fisheries in Russia's Far East as per 8 February 2010

After a number of storms in the end of January 2010, the Russian pollock fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk got stabilized with the catch rates quickly recovering in the first half of February 2010, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/) with reference to the fishery sources in Vladivostok.

More specifically, the daily catch rates on the pollock grounds in the Sea of Okhotsk ranged from 8,000 to 10,000 metric tons throughout the whole period. The fishing fleet grew to 150 ships in number, including ca.110 large ships. Each day the fishery was conducted by 100-108 fishing boats.

Just like Kamchatka-based scientists forecasted, due to formation of fishing concentrations in the north and northwest of the Kamchatka Kurile subarea some of the fleet moved to the adjacent subareas. Large vessels operating at the delineation line of the North Okhotsk and Kamchatka-Kurile subareas were gradually moving to the northwest. The fishing efforts in the North Okhotsk subarea increased more than three times in number, while the fishing efforts in the West Kamchatka subarea showed the same strong decrease. Middle trawlers continued operating in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea.

The dedicated pollock fishery: efforts and catches as per the second week of February 2010

As for the fishery outlook in the coming weeks, in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea the fishermen have already recorded runs of spawned pollock schools therefore the fishery in the above subarea may be closed soon. The similar situation may be also observed in the West Kamchatka subarea. Earlier entry of roe fish to the fishing depths can prove the above forecast. So far the fishery is not feasible due to increased bycatch of young pollock to the north of the 56th parallel where the fishermen are allowed to conduct the fishery from the beginning of the current year 2010. According to the scientific forecast, the active phase of the fishing season in the North Okhotsk subarea may start in the beginning of the second decade of February 2010. The pollock fishery in the second half of February 2010 will be fairly efficient in the West Kamchatka subarea as well.

From the first days of February 2010 the fishermen harvested ca.66,000 tonnes of pollock, of which 16,200 tonnes were harvested in the North Okhotsk subarea, 8400 tonnes in the West Kamchatka subarea and 41,100 tonnes in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea. The size of pollock harvested in the North Okhotsk subarea amounted to 42.3 cm on the average, the average weight was 765g, the share of young pollock did not exceed 1% and the roe yield did not exceed 5.9%. Content of females in catches amounted to 63%. In the Kamchatka Kurile subarea the pollock catch rates were as follows: catch per tow - 9.1 tonnes, average pollock size - 41.4cm, weight - 618g, share of undersized pollock - 3%, roe yield - 3.7%, content of females - 39%.

Quick recovery of the pollock fishery progress has also encouraged development of frozen pollock roe production. The January output of frozen roe reached 4000 tonnes, while in the first days of February 2010 the result amounted to 2300 tonnes. As for the quality of pollock roe, the maturation process was running one week ahead of last year. Judging by the maturation process the fishery of Okhotsk pollock may be peaking already in February 2010. In order to get higher quality pollock roe some vessels will probably only start fishing at that moment, thus the fishing expedition will grow in number and the average daily catch rates will be growing. At the same time, active fishery in the first month of the year and a considerable excess of the last year catch results will lead to early exhaustion of the fishermen's quotas.

Provisional figures for pollock catches broken down between the regions and fishing areas as per 7 February 2010

Vladivostok-based fishermen were leading in terms of fishing efforts on the pollock grounds in the Sea of Okhotsk and the catch volumes as well. As per 8 February 2010 there were 35 large and 28 middle trawlers operating on the grounds. The total harvest of Vladivostok-based fleets amounted to 98,200 tonnes. The region's quotas were covered at 24.8% up from 17.8% last year.

Vladivostok fleets were followed by their colleagues from Kamchatka reporting a total harvest of 70,500 tonnes of Okhotsk pollock with participation of 34 large and 2 middle trawlers in the dedicated operations.

The total take-up of the pollock quotas in the Sea of Okhotsk amounted to 24.8% equal in all the three subareas of Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

The pollock catch through the season may exceed the recommended 70% of the TAC in the winter-spring period. As the pollock TAC take-up in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea reached 72.7% thanks to favourable fishery situation, good quality of the raw material, high roe yield and the approval to cover the quotas out of summarized quotas in the both suabreas of West Kamchatka and Kamchatka Kurile. The fishing operations in the latter subarea continued to be active. By February 2010 the remainder of the capture quotas for commercial fishery in the Kamchatka-Kurile subarea amounted to ca.40,000 tonnes which could be covered already through the first two weeks of the month.

As for other areas and species, noteworthy results were recorded by the vessels operating on the grounds of mixed bottomfish at the western shores of Kamchatka. Through the first week of February 2010 the fleet grew by another eight vessels. Their catches were dominated by pollock, flounder and wachna cod. Longline fishery of cod and halibut was conducted in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea where two vessels were also catching halibuts with bottomnet gear. Through the week the total cod harvest in the Sea of Okhotsk amounted to 182 tonnes, including longline catches of 135 tonnes, while total catches of halibut, flounder and wachna cod correspondingly amounted to 58 tonnes, 156 tonnes and 224 tonnes.

As of 13 February 2010 the fishery operations on the grounds of blue king crab, golden king crab and triangle tanner crab in the West Kamchatka subarea are prohibited in the West Kamchatka subarea. In the first week of February 2010 blue king crab was targeted by 9 vessels reporting a total catch of 300 tonnes. Golden king crab was harvested in two subareas, namely in West Kamchatka by 3 ships altogether catching 7 tonnes and in the North Okhotsk subarea by 2 vessels catching 15 tonnes of blue king crab. Snow crab bairdi was harvested in the south of the west coast of Kamchatka, in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea - 19 tonnes.

Pink shrimp was harvested in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sea of Japan. In the Sea of Okhotsk some of the vessels switched to pink shrimp fishery in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea. The harvest through the period could be broken down between the areas as follows: in the North Okhotsk subarea the fishermen harvested ca.8 tonnes of shrimp and 10 tonnes were harvested in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea. In the Sea of Japan the catch volumes were much higher at 170 metric tons, but the fishing efforts on the grounds were also larger in number.

In the waters of the North Kuriles Atka mackerel, pollock, cod and flounder were targeted by the trawlers. Longliners also joined them and harvested ca.40 tonnes of cod and halibut through the first week of February 2010.

Provisional catches in particular fishing areas in the first week of February 2010 (based on the daily catch rates as reported by skippers)