Russian fisheries in North Atlantic in the first week of May 2007

The overall Russian catch in the North Atlantic through the closing week of April exceeded 15,500 tonnes, 3000 tonnes down on the previous week. The catch decrease happened mainly due to blue whiting in the Faroese fishing zone (some of the vessels were busy with landing procedures). Bottomfish catches in the Barents Sea remained at the same level as in the previous weeks. Catches of cod and haddock somewhat decreased, but the harvest of saithe considerably grew thanks to its direct fishery conducted by separate trawlers in the Norwegian EEZ. On the grounds of Spitsbergen one of Murmansk-led vessels began targeting pink shrimp Pandalus borealis. Five dominating species showed no considerable changes in terms of shares from the total catch volumes. The first four places were still taken by blue whiting (Faroese fishing zone), cod, haddock and saithe (the Barents Sea basin). The fifth place in volume terms was taken by sardine of the Central Eastern Atlantic.

Barents Sea

A part of the fleet continued moving from the Norwegian EEZ to Spitsbergen, Grey zone and the Russian EEZ. By the end of the week no more than 30% out of at least 75 ships operating on the grounds in the beginning of the week kept working within the Norwegian EEZ. Nearly the same number of vessels were operating in the Bear-Spitsbergen area. As a result, catches of cod, haddock and saithe through the week amounted to 2200, 700 and 900 tonnes correspondingly. The harvest of haddock grew insufficiently. Thanks to better catches of cod and saithe the overall catch of the species amounted to 3800 tonnes (minus 220 tonnes on the previous week).

The shrimp fishery along the inshore waters of the West Spitsbergen and in the Loophole of the Barents Sea was conducted by two trawlers reporting daily rates of no more than 5 tonnes per day. The total harvest through the week amounted to less than 100 tonnes.

Faroe fishing zone

Abundant fishery of blue whiting continued in the south of the Faroe fishing zone where up to 19 large trawlers (including 8 ships coming from Kaliningrad) were operating. The fishery conditions and the total harvest of ca.8500 tonnes remained on a par with the previous week results.

Rockall Bank

One of Murmansk-led trawlers sporadically harvested small haddock with the bycatch of blue whiting on a limited area of the western slope of the Rockall Bank. The catch rates were reported at 5-15 tonnes per day with the share of haddock amounting to 70%. The total harvest of haddock through the week amounted to ca.50 tonnes.

Northwest Atlantic

In the NAFO zone the fishery was conducted by 2-3 trawlers of Murmansk-led North Basin. On the slopes of the Newfoundland Bank and the Flemish Cap the fishery situation remained satisfactory. The vessels were reporting catch rates at 5-10 tonnes per day. Greenland halibut dominated in catches. Thanks to newcomers from Murmansk, the fishing efforts in the Irminger Sea grew to 18 ships, including 9 vessels from Kaliningrad. According to shipowners, the fishery situation remained not very stable, but it was improving as compared to April 2007. The catch rates varied from 5 to 15 tonnes per day. The total harvest through the week increased to 1000 metric tons, 65% of which were contributed by Kaliningrad-based fleets.

Central Eastern Atlantic

In the zone of Mauritania and Western Sahara pelagic fisheries were conducted by 3-5 large vessels coming from Murmansk and 1-2 ships from Kaliningrad. The catch range was dominated by sardine, mackerel and sardinella. The total harvest of pelagic fish through the week exceeded 3000 tonnes. One of Kaliningrad vessels was occasionally targeting tuna in the equatorial subarea with the total harvest through the week reported at ca.5 tonnes.

Russian catch in North Atlantiс through the first week of May 2007