Russian Fishermen to profit from new snow crab fishery

The head of Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery (FAF) Ilya Shestakov has confirmed plans to open a snow crab opilio fishery in the Kara Sea from 2022, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to Fishnews, the initial allowable catch has been set at the level of one thousand metric tons.

"Fishing will begin in 2022. This year we will hold an auction, where we will raffle off the shares of quotas for crab fishing in the Kara Sea, " Ilya Shestakov told press in mid-May.

"We believe that in principle, in the future, of course, there will be an increase in crab stocks in the Kara Sea, and we will be able to increase it around two or three times. But we need to see how the crab will behave in the first two years of commercial fishing, " said FAF’s head.

The stocks of the snow crab opilio in the Kara Sea were surveyed during the transarctic expedition of the R/V "Professor Levanidov" in 2019. In March of this year, the Board of Directors of the FAF’s fishery research Institutes noted that this species had reached commercial abundance and it can be recommended for harvesting in this area.