The Russian Pacific Fishery Scientific Research Center (TINRO) has published its forecast for pollock seasons A and B in 2021, and has recommended that fishing companies get an early start to ensure quota isn’t left in the water.
Average ice coverage in winter 2021 in the Sea of Okhotsk – where the majority of Russian pollock is caught – will be 5 to 10 percent higher than in the winters spanning 2004 to 2020, totaling 50 to 55 percent of the overall quota.
The TAC for 2021, set in November, is 1.996 million metric tons (MT), 2,000 MT more than for 2020, with 1.18 million MT to be caught in the Sea of Okhotsk – which doesn’t differ much from the TAC for 2020. TINRO forecast that 85 to 90 percent of the quota will be fished in season A, starting in January and ending in April.
TINRO recommended fishing companies start earlier as the year 2020 saw underutilization of the TAC. As of late November, 137,000 MT of the quota were not caught, an amount impossible to catch during December, which is partially explained by the fact that some of the fleet was used fto catch herring and sardines.
Alexey Buglak, president of the Pollock Catchers Association (PCA), said in an interview with Fishnews media agency that the activities of the association’s members were affected by COVID-19. The fisheries had started season A in early 2020 with a record catch of nearly one million MT during the first 100 days, but then COVID-related factors forced the fleet to limit its operations.
The outbreak of the coronavirus in China halted processing activities there, and then, as China recovered, COVID's spread into Europe and the rest of Asia forced prices down by as much as 40 percent for some pollock products. Many vessels sat idle for long periods due to quarantines and other restrictive measures, and crews on several vessels had to be entirely changed because of positive cases on board. Then, in autumn 2020, a slowdown of customs import clearance in China and new requirements for incoming marine traffic once again slowed the movement of Russian seafood to processing plants and end markets.
Photo courtesy of The Russian Fishery Company
