Overview of fisheries in the seas of the Russian Far East in October 2008

According to the provisional figures, in October 2008 the total harvest in the Russian Far East Basin amounted to ca.167,700 tonnes, 2800 down on 170,500 tonnes harvested in October last year. At the same time, the total harvest for the first ten months of the year approximated 1.9 million tonnes and exceeded the corresponding result of last year by 23,300 tonnes, fishery sources in Vladivostok told http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

Several local expeditions were formed on the fishing grounds of the Russian Far East in October 2008. The pollock expedition was the most abundant in the Bering Sea, where 66 ships of various tonnage participated in the fishery operations.

In the waters of the Small Kurile Ridge the fishing efforts on the saury grounds decreased by 20 in number.

The squid expedition in the North Kuriles went down from 19 to 11 ships with some of the vessels switching to the herring fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk and the other moving northwards to the Bering Sea to continue harvesting squid and pollock in these areas.

More than 30 vessels were targeting crabs in the Sea of Okhotsk, where another 7 vessels kept harvesting whelks. In the Bering Sea and at the cost of West Kamchatka longliners were targeting cod and halibut.

Trawl and Danish seine fishery of mixed bottomfish for human consumption was carried out mostly in the Bering Sea.

Shrimps and whelks were caught in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sea of Japan.

Provisional catch figures for the Russian Far East Basin in January-October 2007-2008

According to the provisional figures, in October 2008 the total harvest in the Russian Far East Basin was slightly behind the last year result. Only pollock and herring out of the main commercial species displayed larger catches on last year, also thanks to increased fishing efforts by 10 and 7 ships correspondingly. In the meantime, the fishing fleet operating on the grounds of bottom and pelagic fish in October 2008 went down in number both in the Bering Sea and at the west coast of Kamchatka. As a result, the catch rates for such species as flounder, sculpins and wachna cod showed a negative trend both in the month under analysis and since the start of the year as compared to the same indices last year.

A ban for commercial red king crab fishery on the shelf of West Kamchatka told on the fishery results for the first ten months of the year. Worsening of the fishery situation on the squid grounds in the waters of the North Kuriles in October 2008 reduced the harvest of the species by 8000 tonnes on last year.

In the beginning of October 2008 the pollock fishery in the Bering Sea was conducted by a group of 55 large and 14 middle vessels. On the average there were ca.50 large and 16 STR middle trawlers operating on the grounds. The daily catches amounted to 53.2 and 35.8 tonnes per one average listed vessel depending on the tonnage. The catch rates per haul were reported at 21.5 tonnes for large trawlers and 17.5 tonnes for middle trawlers. In the first ten days of the month the fishable concentrations of pollock were more dispersed and their abundance somewhat increased in the night time. The fishermen had to trawl at night, but the catch rates did not exceed 18 tonnes per haul for large trawlers. The average size of harvested pollock amounted to 43 cm with the average weight of 510 grams. The bycatch was dominated by flounder with the share of 38%, while the herring accounted for 8% of the harvest with the rest species being cod and halibut. However, starting from the second half of the month the fishermen started harvesting small pollock, the share of which reached 35% of the expedition's total daily harvest. The bycatch mostly contained cod (62%). In the East Sakhalin subarea the pollock fishery in the course of the month was conducted by 2 vessels reporting catches of ca.2000 tonnes.

Just like in the previous month, the second largest expedition was operating on the saury grounds in the South Kuriles. The fishery situation was favourable with the size of harvested pollock reported at 28-30 cm (reaching 90% of the harvest). Most of the catches were transshipped to floating factories, another part of the harvest remained onboard the fishing vessels for self processing and the third part was landed for onshore processing. The storms happened both in the middle and in the end of the month made the fishing fleet search for commercial concentrations of saury. As a result, the gap in the harvest versus last year amounted to 13,700 tonnes. The daily catches of saury in October 2008 amounted to 33.1 tonnes per ship with the rates per trap recorded at 24.2 tonnes.

According to the scientific recommendations, the fishing vessels started moving to the grounds of the Okhotsk herring in the second ten days of October 2008. The first vessel to begin harvesting the species in the area was Magadan-based Mayronis reporting the first catch of 100 tonnes per haul on 7 October 2008. The harvested fish was of the size of 28-29 cm and weight of 295 grams. In the closing ten days of the month the fishery was conducted by 17 vessels, including one middle trawler. The expedition's daily catches fluctuated within 700-1000 tonnes on the average. The fishing situation remained satisfactory all over the month. The size of harvested herring varied from 28 cm to 32 cm, and the average daily catch was recorded at 61 tonnes per vessel and 24.5 tonnes per tow.

Longline cod and halibut fisheries were conducted in the Bering Sea and in the East Kamchatka subareas with the results of 1800 tonnes through the month and the fishing efforts of 12 in number on the average. The bulk of the harvest was contributed by cod, while the shares of halibut in the areas spread as follows: 12.5% in the West Bering Sea zone, 1.9% in the Karaginsk subarea, and 0.4% in the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea. At the western shores of Kamchatka some 6 longliners were operating with the average catch rates of within 160 tonnes. The average daily harvest per vessel amounted to 3.9 tonnes. The rates per 1 km of line were reported at 161 kilos on the average with the share of halibuts reaching 12.4%.

In October 2008 the middle fleet continued trawl and Danish seine fishery of bottomfish and pelagic species for human consumption in the inshore waters, mostly of the East Kamchatka shelves. Starting from the second half of the month the fishing efforts dramatically fell in number due to the end of the navigation period for the small fleet, namely from 45 to 11 vessels. Kamchatka-based vessels and the fleet coming from the Koryak Autonomous District were conducting the fishery in the waters of the Karaginsk subarea with the total harvest of food bottomfish amounting to 2900 tonnes. In the West Bering Sea zone the harvest in the territorial waters did not exceed 400 tonnes. There the fishery was conducted by Koryak and Chukotka based vessels. Beyond the territorial waters of these areas the harvest of food bottomfish and pelagic species amounted to 1200 tonnes. The grand total catch of walleye pollock, cod, wachna cod, flounder, Atka mackerel, etc. in the Bering Sea and in the East Kamchatka amounted to ca.4700 tonnes. As for the areas the harvest included 1000 tonnes from the West Bering Sea zone, 3400 tonnes from the Karaginsk subarea and 200 tonnes from Petropavlosk-Komandor subarea.

In the West Bering Sea zone the fishermen continued harvesting blue king crab with the average daily harvest in October 2008 amounting to 6.6 tonnes, thus exceeding nearly 2.5 times the September results. The daily catch rates amounted to 1.06 tonnes per one vessel and 1.9 kilo per trap. Each vessel daily handled 3400 traps on the average. The total harvest of blue king crab through the month amounted to 168 tonnes.

In the North Okhotsk subarea the nation's crabbers were hunting for snow crab opilio, golden king crab and red king crab. The average daily harvest in the subarea amounted to ca.37 tonnes with 30 vessels participating in the fishery on the average. On the Kamchatka shelf of the Kamchatka Kurile subarea the fishermen were harvesting snow crab baridi with the daily harvest reported at 2.7 tonnes, the fleet processing 1600 trap per day on the average. To the north of the 54th degree North a fleet of 22 crabbers was working on the grounds of blue king crab with the monthly harvest of 267 tonnes. Two vessels in each of the two subareas of West Kamchatka were harvesting red king crab under the research programs. They reported a total harvest of ca.200 tonnes of red king crab through the month.

The main fishing area for the shrimp fishery in October 2008 concentrated in the Sea of Japan. At the shores of East Sakhalin, in the North Okhotsk subarea and in the south of the West Kamchatka shelf deepwater shrimp Pandalus borealis was harvested by 1-2 shrimpers. Their total catch through the month appeared to be 200 tonnes below the result of last year.

Only 7000 tonnes of squid were caught in October 2008 with 14 fishing vessels conducting the fishery on the average. The expedition's daily harvest in the waters of the North Kuriles fluctuated from 100 to 400 tonnes. On 5-15 Ocotber 2008 the share of squid reached 80-100% of the harvest, while by the end of the month the fishermen reported a large bycatch of finfish. Kamchatka-based vessels were moving to the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea with the area's total contribution through the month amounting to ca.900 tonnes.