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

According to the provisional figures, in September 2008 the total harvest in the Russian Far East Basin amounted to ca.225,000 tonnes on a par with last year, fishery sources in Vladivostok told http://www.fishnet-russia.com/ (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

Bering Sea pollock, South Kurile salmon and saury, North Kurile squid dominated in the fleets' catches in September 2008.

Local expeditions were traditionally harvesting cod, halibut and grenadier with longline gear in the Bering Sea and in the West Kamchatka. Trawl and Danish seine fishery of bottomfish species for human consumption was conducted by middle vessels and small boats at the shores of Kamchatka.

Snow crab opilio was harvested in the North Okhotsk subareas and in the West Bering Sea zone where Kamchatka-based companies were also covering their blue king crab allocations. Snow crab bairdi and triangle tanner crab were harvested in the south of the West Kamchatka shelf. The inshore fishery of red king crab was conducted in the Ayano-Shantarsk area and in the north part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Red king crab in the West Kamchatka shelf was harvested for research purposes only.

Shrimp and whelks were harvested in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sea of Japan.

A group of vessels, mostly owned by Nakhodka-based NBAMR plc, continued targeting squid in the waters of the North Kuriles.

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

According to the provisional figures, in September 2008 the total harvest in the Russian Far East Basin amounted to ca.225,000 tonnes, mostly on a par with last year with only several species displaying catch falls on last year. More specifically, withdrawal of vessels from the bottomfish and pelagic grounds on the shelf of West Kamchatka and a ban for commercial red king crab fishery in the same area resulted into a decrease of the flounder and crab harvest through the month.

Catches in September 2007-2008 as broken to fishing areas

According to the provisional figures, the total harvest through the first nine months of the current year 2008 exceeded the corresponding result of 2007 by 7800 tonnes only. The catches decreased for such species as herring, salmons, flounder, wachna cod and grenadier.

Russian pollock

In September 2008 the fleet was targeting two populations of the Bering Sea pollock. The bulk of the vessels, namely 53 large and 17 middle vessels, was harvesting feeding East Bering Sea pollock which migrated to the Navarin area. The daily catches per average listed vessel fluctuated from 50-70 metric tons and 15-30 tonnes depending on the vessels' tonnage. The average catch rates amounted to 23 tonnes per large vessel and 14.2 tonnes per middle vessel.

The West Bering Sea pollock population was harvested mostly by middle vessels in dedicated fishery and as bycatch on the bottomfish grounds.

In the waters of the North Kurile 1-3 vessels were targeting the species with their total harvest through the month reported at more than 100,000 tonnes.

The second most abundant fishery unrolled on the saury grounds in the South Kuriles, where the fishery grew stable from the second ten days of August. Through August and September concentrations of saury were formed off the Small Kurile Ridge. By the middle of September 2008 the fishing efforts grew only by 10 in number, while in 2007 by the end of September the efforts on the saury grounds jumped 2.5 times. Two land-based factories were receiving raw fish, just like a fleet of 10-12 motherships versus 15-18 factory trawlers in 2007. As a result, already starting from the middle of the month 5-10 fishing vessels had to stay idle waiting for their catches to be received by processors. Thus, taking into account the satisfactory fishery situation, in September 2008 the saury harvest could have been higher than last year.

About 10 longliners on the average were operating in the Sea of Okhotsk with the daily harvest reported at ca.23 tonnes. The catch rates per vessel amounted to 3.1 tonnes on the average. The harvest per 1 km of line therefore made 126 kilos with the share of halibuts exceeding 67%. In the West Bering Sea waters and in the Karaginsk subarea of the East Kamchatka the longliners continued harvesting cod and halibut in September 2008. The total harvest in the above two areas amounted to 2100 tonnes, including ca.500 tonnes of halibuts. The results of the longline fishery in the waters of the East Kamchatka were twice higher at 75.5 tonnes per day on the average, ca.7 tonnes per vessel and 233 kilos per 1 km of line. However, the share of halibuts was much lower at 23%.

In the inshore waters of the Kamchatka shelf from the both sides of the peninsula the middle vessels were harvesting bottomfish and pelagic fish with trawl and Danish seine gear. In the first half of September 2008 the catches were dominated by pollock (65-77%), and by the end of the month the catch structure got changed with the shares of flounder, cod and wachna cod rising. In the Sea of Okhotsk the fishing efforts on the bottomfish grounds decreased from 26 to 4 in number. The total harvest of these vessels amounted to 3100 tonnes through the month.

More than 6000 tonnes of bottomfish species for human consumption (cod, flounder, halibuts, etc.) were harvested by trawlers operating in the Bering Sea and in the inshore waters of the East Kamchatka. More specifically, the Russian fishermen were working in the West Bering Sea zone (1200 tonnes), in the Karaginsk subarea (4900 tonnes) and in the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea (500 tonnes). In the beginning of the month pollock accounted for more than 77% of the harvest, followed by cod with its 9%, flounder with 12% and wachna cod with 1%. By the end of the month the catch structure changed with the share of pollock decreasing to 26%, while flounder and cod shares rising to 14% and that of wachna cod jumping to 44%.

In the current year 2008 the red king crab TAC in the West Kamchatka shelf set at more than 1200 tonnes was given for research purposes to FGU VNIRO, FGU TINRO and KamchatNIRO fishery institutes, which altogether harvested 288 tonnes through the month. Therefore the fishermen were targeting red king crab in the Ayano-Shantarsk area and on the shelf of the North Okhotsk subarea where the catch rates per trap amounted to 2.1 kilos on the average. In the West Bering Sea zone the vessels mostly owned by Kamchatka-based companies were taking up the quotas of blue king crab with the daily rates reported at 4.25 tonnes and the catches per vessel reported at 770 kilos. One vessel processed 3400 traps on the average with the total harvest through the month amounting to 181 tonnes.

Multi-species crab fishery was conducted in the Sea of Okhotsk. More specifically, in the North Okhotsk subarea the fishermen were targeting snow crab opilio, golden king crab and hanasaki crab. On the Kamchatka shelf, along with red king crab for research purposes, they also harvested blue king crab and snow crab opilio as bycatch as well as snow crab bairdi and triangle tanner crab. The total crab harvest through the month amounted to 2300 tonnes.

Depending on the conditions on the grounds the squid fishery was conducted in the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea and traditionally in the waters of the North Kuriles. In the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea squid was harvested mostly by Kamchatka-based vessels. However, the North Kuriles remained the main area for the squid fishery. The expedition's daily harvest in the Kurile waters fluctuated from 150 to 530 metric tons. Despite non-stable conditions on the squid grounds, the total harvest of the species in September 2008 exceeded the corresponding result of last year by 1700 tonnes with the total rise since the start of the year amounting to 9400 tonnes.

The fishing efforts on the whelk grounds decreased two times in number as compared to last year. The vessels were operating both in the nation's EEZ and in the inshore waters of the North Okhotsk subarea. The harvest per trap amounted to 2.5 kilos on the average in the Russian EEZ, while in the territorial sea the result was higher at 3.9 kilos. The total harvest amounted to 600 tonnes of whelks.

The shrimp fishery unrolled on the grounds in the waters of the East Sakhalin and in the Sea of Japan, as well as in the North Okhotsk subarea.

In 2008 the salmon season in the Russian Far East was fairly successful for the even year pattern. The fishery took off already in June at the eastern shores of Kamchatka. In the Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea the main fishing scene unrolled in the Ust-Kamchatka district where the take-up of the sockeye and chum salmon quotas exceeded 95%. The fishery in the area ended with coho salmon running less stronger that expected. Already in the first ten days of September the fishery was completely finished. The total harvest in the subarea amounted to more than 16,000 tonnes of salmons. In September 2008 practically all the seines set by Koryak-based commercial fishermen were withdrawn from the grounds. The total harvest of salmons for the season amounted to ca.15,000 tonnes, including 5900 tonnes of pink salmon and 6400 tonnes of chum salmon. In the west coast of Kamchatka practically after the storm in the end of the second decade of August all marine seines were withdrawn and the fishery was continued on the river grounds. The season's harvest in the both subareas of the West Kamchatka exceeded 80,000 tonnes, a record high for a number of years.

In the meantime, Sakhalin fishermen did not expect that pinks would not run for the second time to the southeast grounds of Sakhalin. The fishery was suspended ahead of schedule so that the fish could escape to the spawning grounds. Following pinks chum salmon also ran to the Sakhalin waters, and due to its rich runs the capture quotas were increased.

In the third decade of July the salmon fishery in Iturup started fairly successfully. The main seines were withdrawn only in the beginning of the third decade of September 2008. Through the period the harvest of pink salmon amounted to more than 28,000 tonnes. All in all the Sakhalin fishermen harvested more than 90,000 tonnes of salmons.

Provisional figures on salmon catches in the Russian Far East through the first nine months of 2008