Russian fisheries in North Atlantic and Central Eastern Atlantic in February 2009

In February 2009 the total harvest of Russian vessels in the North Atlantic and Central Eastern Atlantic amounted to ca.80,000 tonnes, thus displaying an increase by 17,800 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 March 2009, told www.fishnet-russia.com (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

The contribution of Kaliningrad-based fleets grew to 19% of Russia's total harvest in the area.

The rise of the total catch volume could be attributed to the Barents Sea capelin (+20,000 tonnes). In the Barents Sea the fishermen reported increased catches of cod, haddock and saithe, correspondingly 2200 tonnes, 1600 tonnes and 1300 tonnes up on the previous month. In the Norwegian Sea there was a decrease of herring catches by 4300 tonnes (due to the end of the abundant fishery by the end of February 2009) and blue whiting by 2200 tonnes (the fishery's temporary suspension in the south part of the Faroese fishing zone with the fleet moving to the south to the international waters to the west of the British Isles). In the Central Eastern Atlantic catches of pelagic fish went down by 1800 tonnes due to smaller catches of horse mackerel.

Barents Sea

In February 2009 bottomfish operations were conducted by up to 60 ships, the main fishing area concentrated in the Norwegian EEZ to the southwest of the borderline of the Barents Sea as set by Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency according to the Agency's order No.58 dated 30 January 2009 along the North Cape-Bear Island-Sørkapp (cape in the south of Spitsbergen) line. In the Russian zone and in the Grey Zone the fishery was conducted by a small group of inshore vessels, shipping chilled whitefish to Murmansk and some of the cod harvest was shipped to Saint Petersburg.

The total harvest of cod in February grew to 17,600 tonnes (+2200 tonnes), while the haddock catch grew to 6000 tonnes (+1600 tonnes) and the saithe harvest increased to 2800 tonnes (+1300 tonnes). The bulk of the cod harvest (87%), the harvest haddock (85%) and all the saithe harvest were contributed by the Norwegian EEZ. The capelin fishery in the first half of February 2009 was conducted at the distance of more than 200 miles to the northeast of the Kola Peninsula. The trawl fleet was harvesting a mixed concentration, the bulk of which was contributed by immature fish. In the closing ten days of the month the situation with the fish size started gradually improving, as the fleet began working on larger maturing capelin migrating southwards to the coast of Murman. By the end of the month the distance to the Kola Bay went down to 100 miles. Some of the fleet moved to the capelin grounds in the inshore zone to the northwest of Rybachy Village, where a small concentration of large fish, which approached the shores, formed at the border of the Norwegian EEZ with the fish containing up to 14% of roe. By the end of the month the group rose to 16-18 vessels. The capelin harvest in February exceeded 20,000 tonnes, of which 16% were contributed by the vessels based in Kaliningrad-based West Fisheries Basin. As per early March, the take-up of the Russian quota amounted to less than 14%. The main problems rooted from the lack of fishing efforts and the absence of purse seiners.

Norwegian Sea

In the first half of February 2009 active fishery of herring to the south of the Lofoten Islands was conducted by 15-18 vessels. In the following weeks the group started to gradually decrease in number, some of the vessels moved to the Barents Sea to harvest capelin there. By the end of the month, with the start of abundant herring fishery, there were no more than 2 ships operating on the grounds. According to the captains, the herring fishery in the Norwegian EEZ was fairly good with the catches reported at 13,700 tonnes (-4300 tonnes) even despite smaller fishing efforts. Russia's harvest of herring since the beginning of the year is estimated at ca.32,000 tonnes, including 24% contributed by Kaliningrad-based vessels. The blue whiting fishery in the south part of the Faroese fishing zone was not very active partly due to instable fishery conditions and the lack of the fishing efforts. The fleet spent a lot of the fishing time on cargo operations in the waters of Torshaven and preparation operations to fishery in other areas. In the course of the closing week of February 2009 the blue whiting fishery was conducted already in the waters of Porcupine, or along the border of the EU waters. The total harvest of blue whiting through the month amounted to 9200 tonnes (-2200 tonnes), with the bulk of the harvest (75%) was made in the closing week of the month in the NEAFC waters. The total harvest of blue whiting since the beginning of the year amounted to ca.21,000 tonnes, of which 27% were contributed by Kaliningrad-based vessels.

Central Eastern Atlantic

Pelagic fishery in the Central Eastern Atlantic in February 2009 was conducted in the zones of Mauritania and Western Sahara. The total harvest amounted to 6900 tonnes, including 15% contributed by Kaliningrad-based ships. Along the Mauritanian coast catches were dominated by horse mackerel (50%) and sardine (33%), and in the waters of Western Sahara the dominating species was mackerel (95%).

Single vessels were conducting a limited fishery of ocean perch and deepwater shrimp Pandalus borealis in the NAFO waters, and krill in the Southwest Atlantic. The krill harvest through the month amounted to 1400 tonnes.

Provisional catch figures for the North Atlantic and the Central Eastern Atlantic in February 2009