News - page 7

On Sunday, June 16, the North Kurile fishermen were the first in the Sakhalin region to start the new salmon season 2019.

‘The blue whiting fishery is very quiet now. It’s not as if this is a surprise, although there had been hopes that the good fishing would continue for a while,’ said Víkingur’s skipper Albert Sveinsson.

As part of the expedition, two research vessels, Professor Levanidov (VNIRO) and Akademik Mstislav Keldysh (RAS), will conduct a series of surveys in the Arctic seas of Russia.

In accordance with the Fishery Regulations for the Far Eastern Fisheries Basin, the APO fishery in the West Kamchatka and Kamchatka-Kurilу subzones of the Sea of Okhotsk was completed on March 31, 2019. On April 10, 2019, the pollock fishery in the North Okhotsk subarea was officially closed. Thus, the season A “pollock fishery” in Russia was officially completed in 2019.

The Okhotsk fishery of Russian pollock has come to an end with fairly good results.

Resident of the Free port of Vladivostok (a port zone under a special custom and taxation system, with a particular jurisdiction regarding investments) Vostochnyi Bereg Ltd will start manufacturing laminated tins for seafood on its current premises in Nakhodka.

The herring has arrived at Møre, - and the first vessel with blue whiting is heading for Egersund, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Norges Sildesalgslag (Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organization for Pelagic Fish).

HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Venus came to Vopnafjörður on Monday with the first payload of blue whiting of the year, caught west of Ireland, making it an 800 nautical mile steam home. The return trip took approximately three days.

As per 5 December 2018 the Russian fishermen harvested 4.73 million metric tons of aquatic biological resources, thus showing a 6.2% rise of catches as compared to the same period last year, according to the Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).

The stocks of pilchard Sardinops melanostictus and mackerel in the Pacific Ocean have been showing the development trends similar to those predicted by the Russian scientists in 2014-2015. Their forecast for the years coming is fairly promising.

By the end of November the Russian fleets have left not so much of the quotas of such important species as cod, haddock and crabs to be harvested during the last month of the year. 

In the recent couple of years Russia has seen a dramatic boost of catches of shrimp Pandalus borealis in the waters off Spitsbergen in the Barents Sea.

Under the investment quotas scheme as per November current the Russian yards have laid 33 fishing vessels and some seven or eight boats more will be laid in the near future against orders of fishing companies, according to head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov as quoted by Korabel.

Kunashir-based Yuzhno-Kurilsky Fish Factory is building a new modern facility that will produce fish oil and fish meal using production lines from Thailand, according to Sakhalin’s regional government.

The forthcoming declining trend of Pollock abundance in the Sea of Okhotsk should not noticeably influence the Pollock season 2019 because the fishing stock will mostly be composed of mature individuals of the strong year classes 2011 and 2013. However, it is important to have an understanding how the fishery is expected to developed in the course of the A season in terms of catch rates, Pollock sizes and fishing grounds,  according to Vladivostok-based TINRO-Center fishery scientists.

Dalian-based shipyard (China) has laid down the keel of a new fishing vessel Atka for Pacific Fishery Company (Tikhrybkom) with main office in Magadan, according to VARPE (Association of Russian Fishermen, Processors and Exporters).

A state-of-the art fish processing complex with the designed daily capacity of 1000 tonnes of raw material is nearing completion at the Island of Shikotan in the Russian Far East.

Russia’s updated Draft Strategy 2030 for Development of Fishery Economy Complex is seeking to overcome the raw material domination of the nation’s seafood exports in favour of value-added products, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries.

The overall catch of Icelandic vessels in September was 108 thousand tonnes, a 14% decrease from September 2017. Demersal catch was just over 35 thousand tonnes, 7% more than in the same month last year. Pelagic catch was 69 thousand tonnes and declined by 23%. Pelagic catch consisted mostly of mackerel, 54 thousand tonnes. 

Production has been going well at HB Grandi’s pelagic plant in Vopnafjörður this summer and the end of this year’s quota is in sight. According to HB Grandi’s Vopnafjörður factory manager Magnús Róbertsson, the mackerel have been large, good quality fish with an average weight over the summer of 450 to 470 grammes.