The Russian Ministry for Agriculture has set its combined total allowable catch (TAC) for 2020 at around three million metric tons (MT), up slightly from 2019.
The ministry set the 2020 TAC for pollock at 1.833 million MT, up from 1.786 million MT this year. Of that amount, the TAC for the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East was set at 1.189 million MT, up 117,800 MT, or 11 percent, over 2019.
After the Ministry for Agriculture’s decree on TAC was signed and published, scientists at the Pacific Fishery Scientific Research Center (TINRO) initiated an increase of TAC for the Primorye fishing zone in the Sea of Japan (the East Sea).
Originally set at 18,100 MT, TINRO revised its recommended TAC to 28,700 MT after it reported data collected during its expeditions in spring 2019 showed there was a more robust stock of pollock than previously thought – 203,400 MT against nearly 153,000 MT. Bycatch of whitebait of pollock is forecast to be less in 2020 than in 2019, TINRO added.
TINRO reported Russia’s overall biomass of pollock is 12 million MT, higher than the average level over recent years. Next year’s stock is composed of the high-yielding 2013 generation and the 2014 middle-yielding generation. However, TINRO previously reported that 2020 will be the last high-yield pollock year in Russia for the foreseeable future.
The decision on pollock was not without contoversy, with several of Russia’s pollock-fishing companies calling for a more cautionary approach. However, they were overruled in the official decision.
Over the last 10 years, Russia’s national TAC varied from 2.76 million MT to 3.21 million MT. The 2019 national TAC was 2.84 million MT, with the total catch to be close to five million MT, the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries stated in a press release. Key species subject to TAC in Russia are pollock, salmon, crab, cod, Pacific herring, and some species of shellfish.
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