Russia is adding opilio crab quota in an unexpected location – the Kara Sea.
Ilya Shestakov, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries, announced at a press conference in July that, based on updated scientific data on the stocks of opilio crab in the Kara Sea, the agency will auction off 1,000 metric tons (MT) of opilio quota there later this year.
The Kara Sea is an unexpected location for the species to be found in abundance. Opilio was first found in the area in the mid-1990s, following a migration from the Barents Sea, where it arrived in the 1940s from the warmer seas of the Russian Far East. During Soviet times, there was a program to relocate king crab to Russia’s North with the goal of creating a new fishery, and scientists believe opilio was also introduced at that time.
In 2007, opilio was noticed near the border between the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, and it had entered the Kara Sea in significant numbers by 2013, either by being accidentally transported in ships’ ballast tanks or by traveling on its own – scientists estimate opilio can travel up to 200 kilometers in three weeks.
Over the past few years, Russian fisheries scientists began researching whether the launch of a commercial fishery would be feasible. According to conclusions by the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Science, the density of opilio in the Kara Sea is very high, to the point where it is now considered a threat to other species. The sea’s level of biodiversity has decreased threefold in the past decade and total biomass of marine creatures has decreased sevenfold.
The initial quota of 1,000 MT is a cautious beginning to the commercial fishery, Shestakov said. Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture recently published regulations to change the list of species subject to total allowable catch (TAC), and the Kara Sea opilio fishery has been recommended for inclusion in the TAC. The expected passage of the regulation will be a step toward preparing for an auction of the quota, Shestakov said.
Russia’s annual TAC for crab currently sits at 90,000 MT, with half of the quota distributed through auctions and the remainder awarded through a determination of companies’ historical catch. Under a recently passed law in Russia, all new crab quotas created by the government will be allocated via auction.
Photo courtesy of Bayhu19/Shutterstock
