Image: Federal Agency for Fisheries / FIS

The Initial Salmon Fishing Forecast is 320 Thousand Tons

RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Friday, April 26, 2024, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

The organization of Pacific salmon fishing in 2024 was discussed at a meeting of the Far Eastern Scientific and Fisheries Council (FESCC). The meeting was chaired by the head of Rosrybolovstvo, Ilya Shestakov, in Vladivostok on April 25, 2024.

Source: Stockfile FIS

Salmon fishing starts annually on June 1 in Kamchatka. In 2024, the projected volume of salmon catch in the Far East is set at 320 thousand tons. As noted by Kirill Kolonchin, director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), this figure is almost equal to the forecast for the 2022 catch and reflects the trend of declining production in even-numbered years from 2018 to 2022.

At the same time, the volume of catch may be increased after the results of the next stage of research.

“Scientists will conduct research directly when salmon approach rivers to spawn. There will be a federal headquarters and regional anadromous commissions that will promptly resolve issues of organizing the fishery. All work will be carried out efficiently, as in previous years. The forecast is still preliminary,” said Ilya Shestakov.

The bulk of the catch will be pink salmon – 193 thousand tons. This value exceeds its actual catch in 2022, with the only exceptions being the north-west of Sakhalin and the Southern Kuril Islands.

The leader in terms of catch volumes will traditionally be the Kamchatka Territory (167 thousand tons), followed by the Sakhalin Region (90 thousand tons) and the Khabarovsk Territory (52 thousand tons). The total catch volume for Primorsky Krai, Chukotka Autonomous Region and Magadan Region is 11 thousand tons.

It is expected that the main fishing areas will be the northeastern and western coasts of Kamchatka, the eastern coast of Sakhalin and the Sea of Okhotsk coast of the Khabarovsk Territory. A special feature of the 2024 fishing season is the opening of industrial salmon fishing in Terpeniya and Aniva Bays (Sakhalin Island), where in recent years a complete or partial fishing ban was established.

Source: Stockfile FIS

The system for regulating the Pacific salmon fishery is well developed. As Vasily Sokolov, deputy head of Rosrybolovstvo, noted, all organizational measures have been completed through the department: an order has been issued to organize salmon fishing, scientific councils and industry council meetings have been held, figures have been approved and communicated to territorial departments and Far Eastern subjects. The first meetings of the Commissions have already been held in Kamchatka and Sakhalin.

VNIRO held on-site events, traditional in recent years, where the main parameters of strategies for each region were discussed. “This is the final step that remains to complete preparations for the salmon run - to adopt the strategies developed by industry science. The rest has been completed,” reported Vasily Sokolov.

DVNPS participants discussed the strategies presented by the director of VNIRO. The speakers expressed different, often opposing, proposals for organizing and regulating salmon fishing.

“There are a lot of ideas, we need to analyze them all. Let’s not forget that fish is a federal resource, and we need to start from something and define some general criteria,” said Ilya Shestakov.

As a result of the discussion, the head of Rosrybolovstvo instructed VNIRO to optimize the basic principles of organizing Pacific salmon fishing for the regions of the Far East for the next fishing season.

Source: Federal Agency for Fisheries Rosrybolovstvo (Translated from the original in Russian)

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