Russia’s seafood industry has caught over 4.6 million metric tons (MT) of seafood so far in 2024, with a huge drop in the salmon catch dragging down the total.
Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) reported the total catch so far in 2024 as of 7 December had reached 4.66 million MT, down 7 percent compared to the just over 5 million MT it had caught in the same period in 2023.
The largest portion of that catch is made up of pollock, which has seen increases in 2024 compared to 2023. Russia has so far caught 1.87 million MT of pollock, an increase of 18,900 MT over the same period of 2023.
Another species making up a huge portion of the catch in 2024 is Iwashi sardines. Russia has caught more than 563,000 MT of the species so far in 2024, roughly 48,400 MT more than it caught in the same period of 2023 and a new record for Russia in the post-Soviet era.
"Thanks to the renewal of the fishing fleet, the efficiency of the fishery has increased,” Rosrybolovstvo Head Ilya Shestakov said. "If in Soviet times about 200 vessels were engaged in the extraction of Iwashi sardine, now there are about 50. In addition, the quality of the product has improved; fresh catches are processed directly on board.”
Russia has also caught 315,400 MT of cod so far in 2024, down from the 364,900 MT it caught in the same time frame of 2023. The drop in catch follows lower quotas instituted for the species. The Barents Sea cod quota was 885,600 MT in 2021, but the Norwegian-Russian Joint Fishery Commission dropped the shared quota all the way to 453,427 MT for 2024.
Salmon was another species that saw big drops in 2024 ...
