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

In January 2009 the total harvest of Russian vessels in the North Atlantic and Central Eastern Atlantic amounted to ca.60,000 tonnes, thus displaying an increase by 30,700 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 February 2009, told www.fishnet-russia.com (https://www.fishnet.ru/).

The contribution of Kaliningrad-based fleets amounted to 13% of Russia's total harvest in the area.

More active fishery due to large efforts since the beginning of the year was observed nearly in all the areas of mass fishery: Barents Sea (bottomfish species), Norwegian Sea (herring in the Norwegian EEZ and blue whiting in the Faroese fishing zone) and in the Central Eastern Atlantic (pelagic fish). The fishery conditions in the Barents Sea and in the Norwegian Sea depended mostly on the length of stormy period.

Barents Sea

By the end of January 2009 there were more than 50 ships operating on the bottomfish grounds in the Barents Sea. The main fishing scene concentrated in the Norwegian EEZ along the northwest coast of Norway, where there were main spawning grounds of cod, haddock and saithe. Longliners worked in the north part of the Norwegian EEZ to the southeast of the Bear Island. Some of the fishing vessels were operating in the southwest part of Spitsbergen waters. The fishery in January 2009 was remarkable for minimum fishing efforts in the Russian EEZ and in the Grey zone which could be attributed to changes in the nation's fishery legislation. More specifically, starting from 1 January 2009 all the fish harvested by Russian-flagged vessels shall be brought to the Russian onshore terminals for customs clearance.

The total harvest of bottomfish in the Barents Sea in January 2009 was estimated at ca.22,000 tonnes, of which 15,400 tonnes of cod, 4400 tonnes of haddock and 1500 tonnes of saithe. According to the fleet's location, the bulk of the cod and haddock harvest and all the saithe catch were contributed by the Norwegian EEZ (61%, 30% and 97% namely). Nearly all the remaining fish was harvested in the waters of Spitsbergen.

In the end of January 2009 Murmansk-based vessels went to capelin grounds. The total harvest of capelin did not exceed 200 metric tons.

Norwegian Sea

On the herring grounds in the Norwegian EEZ in the waters of Lofoten the fishing efforts numbered 15 (including 3 ships coming from Kaliningrad) by the end of January 2009. According to the skippers, the fishery conditions were fairly good and the harvest depended mostly on the weather conditions. The total harvest of herring through the month amounted to 18,000 tonnes, of which less than 20% contributed by Kaliningrad-based vessels. Active fishery of blue whiting in the Faroese fishing zone was conducted mostly in the first 20 days of the month, by the end of the month there were 1-2 vessels operating on the grounds in the south of the Faroese zone. That could be attributed to the fleet's move to other areas. The total harvest of blue whiting through the month amounted to 11,400 tonnes, including 7% contributed by Kaliningrad-based vessels.

Central Eastern Atlantic

Pelagic fishery in the Central Eastern Atlantic in January 2009 was conducted on a limited scale. The total harvest of 8700 tonnes consisted mostly of mackerel and horse mackerel, 46% and 42% correspondingly.

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