Russian fisheries in North Atlantic and Central Eastern Atlantic in December 2008

In December 2008 the total harvest of Russian vessels in the North Atlantic and Central Eastern Atlantic amounted to ca.30,600 tonnes, thus displaying a decrease by 12,300 tonnes on the result of the previous month, fishery sources in Murmansk, with reference to provisional figures of National Centre for Fisheries Monitoring and Communication as per early January 2008, told www.fishnet-russia.com (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

The contribution of Kaliningrad-based fleets amounted to 15% of Russia's total harvest in the area.

The large catch fall could be attributed mostly to smaller landings of cod and haddock (correspondingly 5100 and 1000 tonnes down on the previous month due to exhaustion of annual allocations), closure of polar cod fishery (8000 tonnes down on November 2008) and autumn surveys on capelin grounds (2000 tonnes down) in the Barents Sea, closure of autumn-winter fishery of spring spawning Atlanto-Scandian herring in the Norwegian Sea (7700 tonnes down on the previous month). The red king crab harvest in the Russian waters of the Barents Sea remained at the same level of 1400 tonnes. After closure of the herring fishery in the Norwegian EEZ the dominating species in the Norwegian Sea was blue whiting harvested within the Faroese fishing zone (the harvest estimated at 12,100 tonnes up on the previous month).

In the Northwest Atlantic single Russian vessels were operating on a limited scale with the harvest reported at 200 tonnes. In the Central Eastern Atlantic the total harvest of pelagic species did not change and stayed at 10,500 tonnes.

Barents Sea

Bottomfish operations in December 2008 depended mostly on the weather and remaining quotas of Murmansk-based fleets. Due to declining fishing efforts the bottomfish harvest during the month was estimated at 6100 tonnes with the shares of cod and haddock amounting to 36% and 33% of the total harvest. Cod catches in December 2008 amounted to 2200 tonnes, 5100 tonnes down on the previous month and haddock catches decreased by 1000 tonnes to 2000 tonnes. Nearly all the fish was harvested in the Russian waters and in the Grey zone. The total cod harvest since the beginning of the year amounted to ca.185,00 tonnes, while haddock catches amounted to 69,000 tonnes.

The harvest of red king crab in the Russian EEZ remained at the same level of 1400 tonnes, 300 tonnes down on November 2008. The total harvest of red king crabs from January through to December 2008 amounted to 900 tonnes.

Norwegian Sea

After closure of the herring fishery in the Norwegian EEZ (the total harvest from the start of the year 2008 amounted to 184,00 tonnes, of which 35% were contributed by Kaliningrad-based fleets), the dominating pelagic species was blue whiting. The main concentrations were recorded in the southeast part of the Faroese fishing zone, while by the end of the month the largest fish concentrated at the south border of the zone. The Russian harvest of blue whiting through December 2008 amounted to 13,400 tonnes, 12,100 tonnes up on the previous month, with the contribution of Kaliningrad-based vessels amounting to 30%. The total harvest of blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic since the start of the year was estimated at 223,000 tonnes, of which 33% were contributed by Kaliningrad-based fleets.

Central Eastern Atlantic

In the waters of Central Eastern Atlantic the Russian harvest of pelagic species in December 2008 remained at 10,500 tonnes. Just like in November 2008, the dominating species was horse mackerel with a share of 45%, while the mackerel share increased to 41.5%. Nearly all the harvest (97%) was contributed by the vessels based in Murmansk-led North Fisheries Basin.

The total harvest in the area amounted to ca.124,000 tonnes, of which 10% were contributed by Kaliningrad-based vessels.

The grand total harvest of the Russian fleets in the North Atlantic and in the Central Eastern Atlantic exceeded 905,000 tonnes of finfish and invertebrates, of which 26% were contributed by Kaliningrad-based fleets.

Provisional catch figures for the North Atlantic and the Central Eastern Atlantic in December 2008