Growing pollock biomass in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk has created favorable forecasts for Russia’s pollock A season, but the age structure of the catch hints at potential problems, according to Russian officials.
The outlook for the season was discussed in mid-December by the Far Eastern Scientific Production Council, chaired by the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Head Ilya Shestakov. Scientific research has found that the biomass of pollock in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk – where most of Russia’s pollock is caught – is 12 million metric tons (MT), higher than the long-term average.
“The state of the stock is good [and] there is no risk of overfishing,” Alexey Baytalyuk, head of TINRO, the Pacific branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), said.
Scientists are also predicting that the number of stormy days will be in line with past seasons, and the average ship can be expected to catch 100 to 110 MT of pollock in 24 hours.
However, while the upcoming A season has little signs for concern, future seasons may be at risk. The current biomass is dominated by fish that are six to nine years old, which are mainly from past generations with high recruitment. The dominance of those years reflects an absence of high recruitment in subsequent generations, and TINRO is predicting that the biomass will likely decrease in the future.
“That’s a very alarming sign. The trend can negatively affect the stocks of the Sea of Okhotsk over [the] near-term,” Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography said in a statement in early December. “From 2024 on, there may be a significant decrease of the biomass of the species that will lead to a drop in the total allowable catch.”
According to data from the Pollock Catchers Association, the A season in 2021 caught 858,000 MT of pollock, with the TAC for 2021 utilized by 73 percent. Of that volume, 777,000 MT was caught in the Sea of Okhotsk, 15 percent down from the A season 2020.
The decrease isn’t entirely result of the lower biomass, however. Russia’s trading relationship with China has become strained due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a glut of pollock that Russia had to find a new market for. In response, some fishing companies decided to fish less pollock, rather than struggle to find a market for more catch.
The total allowable catch for 2022 was set earlier in December, with a decrease of 104,000 MT for the sea of Okhotsk in response to the concerns about biomass.
Photo courtesy of knyazev vasily/Shutterstock
