The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) recently reported the 2022 salmon catch in its area of oversight at 710,400 metric tons, the second-lowest total since 2000.
The declines were blamed on lower landings of pink and chum salmon in Asia, where those species make up most of the catch, according to a NPAFC scientific committee report.
The Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based NPAFC, which includes Canada, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the U.S. as members, manages wild Pacific salmon and steelhead on the high seas north of 33 degrees north latitude beyond the 200-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of coastal states.
“Despite a growth in total catch compared to 2020, even-year pink salmon catch continued to decline to a level last seen from 1988 to 1992,” the report said. “The last time the pink salmon portion of total catch weight equaled 36 percent was in 1994 and 1996.”
Information presented during the commission’s 30th annual meeting – which took place 15 to 19 May, 2023, in Busan, South Korea – also highlighted that, for the first time in the history of Pacific salmon fishing, the sockeye catch exceeded that of chum, reflecting a continuing decline in chum catches since 2011 on the Asian side of the Pacific.
Pink salmon catches still comprised the majority of the commercial totals at 36.4 percent by weight, followed by sockeye salmon with 30.3 percent; chum with 30 percent; and coho with 2.3 percent. Chinook salmon, cherry salmon, and steelhead trout each made up less than 1 percent of the catch by weight, respectively.
Of the total catch, 50 percent, or 352,100 MT – of which 342,300 MT was taken in Alaska – was caught by the United States; while 37 percent, or 265,100 MT, was caught by Russia; 12.4 percent, or 88,200, was caught by Japan; and less than 1 percent each was caught by Canada, with 4,800 MT, and South Korea, with 138.3 MT.
Catch data shows the overall pink salmon catch reached a high of 516,000 MT in 2018, but declined to 146,400 MT in 2022 – the lowest level since 2002, when it totaled 132,400 MT. The chum salmon catch has declined since 2015, totaling only 158,200 MT in 2022, compared to the 10-year average between 2010 and 2019 of 222,800 MT.
This decline was largely due to reduced chum catches in Japan, which caught 85,100 MT; and Russia, which caught 73,000 MT. The latter country currently catches the largest proportion of the total Asian catch, though prior to 2005, Japan often caught a greater proportion. Catches attributed to South Korea are relatively minor.
The total North American catch in 2022 was 356,900 MT. Chum salmon catch in the region declined from 101,200 MT in 2017 to 54,600 MT in 2022. Sockeye salmon catch increased in 2022 to 177,200 MT, compared to the five-year average of 126,100 MT.
In Alaska, sockeye and pink salmon are the primary salmon species caught by volume, followed by chum. The 2022 chum salmon catch in Alaska increased to 50,300 MT from 28,100 MT in 2020, which was the lowest annual catch since 1989.
In the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California, total catch of salmon in the three states in 2022 was 9,700 MT, the highest total since 2017, which saw a 10,300 MT haul.
In Canada, sockeye, pink, and Chinook salmon were the most abundant species caught. While Canadian catches remain historically low overall, catches for sockeye and pink salmon increased compared to 2021.
The NPAFC scientific research and statistics committee also reported that hatchery releases of salmon and steelhead from member countries have been stable since 1993, with approximately five billion fish released annually.
To analyze regional variation in salmon trends across the North Pacific, member countries unanimously agreed to adopt a new plan for 2023 through 2027 that establishes a research framework to develop a mechanistic understanding of the impact of changing climate on salmon abundance and distribution trends.
The meeting also covered ways the NPAFC can effectively crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in member-states’ territories. The NPAFC enforcement committee reported regularly conducted aircraft and ship patrols to deter IUU fishing, and identified multiple violations of conservation and management measures established by regional fisheries management organizations in the North Pacific. However, none involved high-seas drift-net activity or illegal retention of salmon.
At the meeting, the NPAFC approved procedures to begin listing certain vessels as guilty of IUU infractions, and those procedures went into effect on 15 May.
Under the new rules, the NPAFC may place fishing vessels that retain salmon bycatch for inclusion on the NPAFC IUU vessel list. And salmon fishing can only occur within the EEZs of coastal countries.
Separately, the commission celebrated the completion of the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) initiative, which resulted in the execution of a series of research projects. The IYS 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition successfully concluded in April 2022, through which a fleet of five ships and science teams from the U.S., Canada, and Russia conducted the largest ever pan-Pacific, epipelagic ecosystem survey during winter, focusing on understanding salmon and their ecosystems. The team gathered samples from 131 stations across an area of 2.5 million square kilometers.
Mark Saunders, the director of the International Year of the Salmon for the Pacific region, received the 2023 North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission Award at the meeting, and the commission also honored outgoing NPAFC Executive Director Vladimir Radchenko for 10 years of service to the commission.
Photo courtesy of Port_Folio/Shutterstock
