Positive outlook for Russia's unrolling salmon season

In the course of the salmon season 2009 which started on 25 May 2009 in the southwest of Sakhalin the fishermen reported the first catches of pink salmon, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to fishery sources in the area.

The salmon season was started by the fishermen from Imeni Lenina fishing co-op and Zarya Poseidona company who set the seines in the Kholmsky District. In the end of the first week of June the fishermen harvested 4900 tonnes of pink salmon. The total harvest in the Southwest Sakhalin for the whole season has been recommended at more than 1900 tonnes.

The overall pink salmon harvest is forecasted at more than 283,100 tonnes, nearly 34% up on the TAC 2008. At the same time, in the eastern coast of Kamchatka, mostly in the Karaginsk subarea, the catch is forecasted to jump nearly eight times as compared to the TAC 2008 and to reach 100,000 tonnes. In the eastern coast of Sakhalin the harvest may also approach the 100,000 tonne level, to display a rise of nearly 20% on the TAC 2008. In the waters of the South Kuriles the rise may exceed 10% if the harvest reaches ca.45,500 tonnes, and in the north of the Okhotsk coast the pink salmon catch may reach 20,000 tonnes through the season, which is 16 times up on the TAC 2008.

In case of strong runs of pink salmon in the East Kamchatka, East Sakhalin, South Kuriles and in the northwest part of the Okhotsk coast the catch during the current season may reach the actual result of the year 2007 giving record high results for a number of recent years.