Stocks of red king crab off West Kamchatka decreasing

Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture has made changes to the total allowable catch of crabs in the Russian Far East in 2021 introducing corrections into the permitted harvest volumes of red king crab and snow crab Bairdi off West Kamchatka, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to the ministry, the respective Order No. 591 of August 25, 2021 was released just before the crab season, which starts on September 1.

In particular, the red king TAC in the West Kamchatka subzone was increased by 479 metric tons to 12362 MT. But at the same time, in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzone, the permitted harvest was reduced by 1,510 tons to 2012 MT. Thus, the total TAC for these fishing areas decreased from 15405 MT to 14374 MT.

This year, it was also decided to open fishery for the snow crab Bairdi in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzone. The TAC of this species has been increased by 480 tons up to 500 tons.