Overview of fisheries in the Russian Far East as per mid-June 2010

Last year as per mid-June the Pollock fishery in the West Bering Sea Zone was conducted by a much stronger fleet of 28 large trawlers and 9 middle boats than in mid-June 2010, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/.

More specifically during the 24th week of 7-13 June 2010 the number of vessels came down to 24 with some 70% of the fleet represented by large trawlers. During the week the situation in the Pollock fishery in the area was quite poor. However the catch rates per average listed boat of the expedition went up to 32-42 metric tons versus 28.4 tonnes during the same period last year. The large trawlers displayed a result of 15-19 tonnes per tow while the middle boats reported 13-15 tonnes per tow.

As regards the size composition, the fish was good both last year and currently. The hauls mostly contained Pollock of 36-40 cm making up 54% of the catches. The fish below 35 cm did not exceed 7%. The large Pollock 46-50 cm long accounted for about the same share.

During the week in question the expedition harvested 5.3 thousand tones of Pollock in the West Bering Sea Zone, the figure falling 2.5 thousand tones short of the result during the same period of 2009.

Pollock fishery was also conducted along the eastern coast of Kamchatka in the Karaginsk and Petropavlovsk-Kommandorsk subareas. The dedicated fishery was carried out by two Kamchatka-based boats and one Sakhalin-based trawler making an overall catch of 490 tonnes during the week.

The remaining Pollock harvest was taken as by-catch and in other fisheries in terms of kinds and methods.

Table: Catch of fish and shellfish in the Russian Far East in week 24