Russian salmon season winding up on record breaking note
Russian salmon season is winding up on a record breaking note with the total harvest of salmon species in the Russian Far East exceeding 450,000 tonnes by 1 September 2009, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to fishery sources in Vladivostok.
Kamchatka fleets were the first to finish the season with the result of ca.185,000 tonnes, record high harvest in the history of salmon fishery in Kamchatka waters which exceeded the largest result of 2007 by more than 50,000 tonnes.
Sakhalin fishermen harvested more than 224,500 tonnes of salmons.
Khabarovsk-based fleets contributed 29,100 tonnes to the Basin's salmon harvest. Smaller contributions of 12,700 and 900 tonnes were made by Magadan and Chukotka correspondingly.
Provisional catch figures as per 1 September 2009
Province | Fishing area | 1000 metric tons |
| Kamchatsky Krai | Petropavlovsk-Komandor subarea | 14.2 |
| Karaginsk subarea | 142.30 | |
| West Kamchatka subarea | 7.9 | |
| Kamchatka-Kurile subarea | 20.0 | |
| West Bering Sea zone | 0.3 | |
| Total | 184.4 | |
| Chukotka Autonomous District | Total | 0.9 |
| Khabarovsky Krai Territory | Continental slope of the Sea of Okhotsk | 17.8 |
| Amur River | 11.2 | |
| Primorye subarea | 0.09 | |
| Total | 29.1 | |
| Magadan | Continental slope of the Sea of Okhotsk | 12.7 |
| Sakhalin | Total | 224.5 |
| Basin’s total | 451.6 | |
In 2009 the salmon catches have been really huge, though there are some quality problems caused by abundant fish runs and high water temperatures. Domestic traders have already responded to the development and tended to check nearly every product lot, while traders on the international market, such as Chinese, have sent veterinary officers to Russia in order to check the fish quality for compliance with the national standards.