Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture has issued a decree with new parameters for total allowable catch (TAC) levels for the country’s fisheries in 2020, with ramifications for crab and pollock.
The corrections were based on the latest scientific data for three fishery basins. The new TAC for king crab in the Barents Sea, the Northern fishery basin, increased by 1,000 metric tons (MT) to 10,940 MT, while the quota for opilio crab increased by 3,410 MT to 13,250 MT.
In the Far Eastern basin, the TAC for blue manna crab was boosted by 676 MT to 4673 MT, and the opilio TAC was raised by 672 MT to 2,727 MT.
In the Baltic Sea, the Western fishery basin, the Baltic sprat fishery had its TAC raised by 4,000 MT to 46,500 MT.
The TAC for cod was increased in two fishing zones in the Russian Far East by a combined 20,000 MT, to 120,000 MT.
The initial TAC for pollock for 2020 in Russia was 1.833 million MT, but that will be raised by 159,700 MT, with 80,900 MT going to the Western Bering Sea zone and 68,000 MT for the Chukchee Sea, which has its TAC for pollock for the first time.
Changes in the TAC for pollock were anticipated by the industry, as current catches are higher than the last year's, Pollock Catchers Association President Alexey Buglak told Fishnews media agency. With 37 percent of the initial TAC caught through 29 June, there was a likelihood the entire TAC would be filled by August. The upward shift, which the Ministry of Agriculture said reflected changes in stocks, will allow fishing companies to continue operations through the summer.
The comprehensive 2020 TAC for all species is around three million MT, a figure that has remained steady in the past several years.
Photo courtesy of Sergei Butorin/Shutterstock
