Overview of fisheries in the seas of the Russian Far East in November 2008
According to the provisional figures, in November 2008 the total harvest in the Russian Far East Basin amounted to ca.145,700 tonnes, 5500 down on 170,500 tonnes harvested in November last year. At the same time, the total harvest for the first eleven months of the year approximated 2.033 million tonnes and exceeded the corresponding result of last year by 24,800 tonnes, fishery sources in Vladivostok told http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/).
Expedition fishery in November was based on such species as pollock in the Bering Sea and in the Sea of Okhotsk, herring in the Sea of Okhotsk and saury in the South Kuriles. As usual, pollock was the dominating species in terms of the daily largest catch rates in the Russian Far East with the share reaching 54.8% of the total harvest.
Provisional catch figures for the Russian Far East Basin in January-November 2007-2008Species | Catches in November, ‘000 metric tons | Catches in January-November, ‘000 metric tons | ||||
2008 | 2007 | 2008 versus 2007, +/- | 2008 | 2007 | 2008 versus 2007, +/- | |
Total | 145.6 | 151.1 | -5.5 | 2032.9 | 2008.1 | +24.8 |
Of which finfish | ||||||
Atka mackerel | 5.8 | 4.0 | +1.8 | 46.4 | 39.4 | +7.0 |
Cod | 3.2 | 2.7 | +0.5 | 57.6 | 46.5 | +11.1 |
Flounder | 1.6 | 1.9 | -0.3 | 54.4 | 65.7 | -11.3 |
Grenadier | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0 | 15.4 | 20.6 | -5.2 |
Halibut | 0.3 | 0.4 | -0.1 | 13.6 | 13.2 | +0.4 |
Herring | 24.9 | 19.6 | +5.3 | 105.3 | 107.9 | -2.6 |
Longfin codling Laemonema | 2.5 | 5.7 | -3.2 | 19.6 | 25.3 | -5.7 |
Ocean perch | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | -0.2 |
Pollock | 79.8 | 70.9 | +8.9 | 1236.3 | 1116.3 | +120.0 |
Salmons | - | - | - | 249.2* | 330.4* | -81.2 |
Saury | 16.0 | 29.7 | -13.7 | 88.1 | 96.5 | -8.4 |
Sculpins | 0.1 | 0.2 | -0.1 | 6.0 | 6.2 | -0.2 |
Skates | 0.1 | 0.01 | +0.09 | 0.8 | 1.5 | -0.7 |
Wachna cod | 0.2 | 0.4 | -0.2 | 20.6 | 22.7 | -2.1 |
Other than finfish species |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crabs | 3.1 | 3.8 | -0.7 | 29.9 | 30.7 | -0.8 |
Sea cucumber | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | +0.3 |
Sea scallops | 0.2 | 0.1 | +0.1 | 2.9 | 1.3 | +1.6 |
Sea urchins | 0.5 | 0.6 | -0.1 | 5.0 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
Shrimps | 0.7 | 1.0 | -0.3 | 7.3 | 7.4 | -0.1 |
Squid | 4.6 | 6.9 | -2.3 | 55.1 | 56.1 | -1.0 |
Whelks | 0.7 | 0.6 | +0.1 | 5.3 | 4.1 | +1.2 |
The pollock fishery was conducted in the Bering Sea, in the Karaginsk subarea, in the North Kuriles and in the Sea of Okhotsk. While in the beginning of the month in the West Bering Sea zone the pollock fishery was conducted by 52 fishing vessels, by the closing ten days of the month the vessels started moving to the Sea of Okhotsk to harvest herring and pollock there. The fishery situation in the Bering Sea was non-stable, in the beginning of the month small size pollock was dominating in catches. Due to migration of the feeding pollock more to the south, the fishermen digressed to find fishable concentrations. The average daily harvest in the West Bering Sea zone amounted to 54.3 tonnes per large vessel. Out of the pollock TAC in the West Bering Sea zone set at 555,700 tonnes the fishermen covered 78% by the end of November 2008. In December 2008 the fleets are targeting to harvest more than 120,000 tonnes. In the eleven months of the year the pollock quota take-up in the Bering Sea was as follows: 77.7% by Vladivostok-led Primorye, 99.2% by Khabarovsk, 91.4% by Magadan, 89.4% by Sakhalin, 86.5% by Kamchatka, 68.2% by Koryak Autonomous District and 85% by Chukotka Autonomous District.
In the Karaginsk subarea the pollock fishery was conducted mostly by Kamchatka-based companies. The harvest in the subarea amounted to 4400 tonnes. Catches contained fish of larger sizes. More specifically, pollock of 35-40 cm made 34% versus 55% in the West Bering Sea zone.
In the Sea of Okhotsk in the closing ten days of the month the fishermen began dedicated fishery of pollock in the waters of the Kashevarov Bank with 5 large trawlers, 3 middle vessels and one mothership participating in it. The fishery situation was weak with the rates per tow amounting to 20 tonnes of pollock mostly (80%) of more than 35 cm. The bycatch contained ca.5% of herring.
The Russian fishermen had a success on the herring grounds with the expedition's daily harvest exceeding 1000 tonnes. Large trawlers reported catches of 27-30 tonnes per tow. In the beginning of December 2008 there were more than 20 ships operating on the herring grounds with the results reported as good. In December 2008 the harvest may amount to 60,000 tonnes leading up to the complete exhaustion of the TAC. According to the scientific forecasts, the harvest is expected to amount to 31,100 tonnes with some 50 trawlers operating on the grounds per day on the average.
The fishing efforts on the saury grounds decreased from 40 to 14 in number in the course of the month. The fleet's stable operations were impeded by the weather conditions on the fishing grounds, the fish schools moved to the southeast beyond the territorial waters and the Russian EEZ. Already from the closing ten days of the month due to remoteness from the shore the raw fish was transshipped to the floating processors and some of it went for onboard processing. Through the season the onshore processors, namely Ostrovnoi and Krabozavodsk combines, handled ca.17,000 tonnes of raw fish. From the beginning of the fishery in the inshore waters of the Small Kurile Ridge the fishermen harvested 11,200 tonnes of saury. The harvest in the international waters amounted to ca.16,000 tonnes and the remaining harvest was contributed by the Russian EEZ.
Just like it was forecasted, in the course of the month the squid fishery situation in the North Kuriles was weak. The dominating share of the harvest was contributed by finfish, while squid accounted for only one third of the harvest. The squid fishery was conducted by 11 vessels, all together harvesting a little more than 3000 tonnes. In the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea the vessels owned by two Kamchatka-based companies harvested 1300 tonnes of squid, while in the West Bering Sea and in the Karaginsk subarea squid was harvested as bycatch in the pollock fishery.
Longline fishery of cod and halibuts was conducted by the vessels in the Bering Sea as well as at the shores of East and West Kamchatka. The bulk of the harvest from the oceanic side of Kamchatka was contributed by cod, and only to the north of the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea halibuts accounted for 2.5-3.7%% of the harvest. In the same areas in the inshore waters pollock, flounder, Atka mackerel and cod were the dominating species for the vessels operating with trawl and Danish seines. The bulk of the harvest was contributed by pollock with its 65.3%. More efficient operations were conducted in the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea where the fleet was concentrating. The harvest in the subarea amounted to 2700 tonnes, of which pollock accounted for 66.5%, Atka mackerel for 14.7% and flounder for 6.5%.
At the shores of West Kamchatka the longliner fleet grew from 3 to 10 vessels by the end of the month. The harvest of halibuts amounted to ca.60 tonnes. Two trawlers also operating in the area were targeting mostly pollock and flounder.
In November 2008 the fishery of various crab species was conducted mostly in the Sea of Okhotsk with about 60 ships participating in it. Snow crab opilio was harvested in the North Okhotsk subarea by 10 crabbers. In the same subarea the fishermen were targeting red king crab and golden king crab. In the West Kamchatka subarea 24 crabbers were hunting for blue king crab. One crabber set traps for golden king crab. To the south, in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea the fishermen were harvesting snow crab bairdi. According to provisional figures, through the month the crabbers harvested ca.600 tonnes of snow crab opilio, 800 tonnes of blue king crab, 100 tonnes of golden king crab and ca.50 tonnes of snow crab bairdi. On the grounds of red king crab along the western coast of Kamchatka the vessels owned by the nation's fishery research institutes were conducting fisheries for the stock research purposes with the fishery for commercial purposes banned. The harvest amounted to ca.130 tonnes through the month.
The vessels owned by Kamchatka companies continued harvesting blue king crab in the Bering Sea. The harvest of 8 crabbers through the month was reported at 191 tonnes.
In November 2008 the shrimp fishery was conducted in the North Okhotsk subarea and in the Sea of Japan. Vladivostok-based vessel Asanda operated for short time on the pink shrimp grounds in the Kamchatka Kurile subarea and in the closing days of the month she moved to the Sea of Japan. The harvest in the area amounted to 12 tonnes. The total harvest of shrimps through the month in general was 300 tonnes down on the result of last year.
In the north part of the Sea of Okhotsk a fleet of 6 vessels was targeting whelks with the average daily harvest reported at 23.7 tonnes.