The Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov ordered a new study into the possibility of fishing pollock and opilio crab in new waters due to shifts in stocks caused by climate change.
Scientific data from the Pacific Scientific Research Fishery Institute (TINRO), presented to the board of directors of the Scientific Research Fishery Institutes, shows that stocks of pollock in the Chukchi Sea and stocks of opilio crab in the Chukchi Sea and the Kara Sea are going to be sought by commercial fisheries. TINRO’s director, Alexey Baytalyuk, said that scientists studied stocks, their distribution, migration, and other parameters four times – 1997, 2010, 2014, and 2018 – to better understand which stocks can be subject to fishing in the Russian Arctic.
The results of the study shows climate change has caused stocks of pollock to migrate from the waters of the Bering Sea to the Chukchi Sea. Polar cod is also moving to the East Siberian Sea and the Sea of Laptev.
Another conclusion relates to opilio crab: its biomass has increased in the Chukchi Sea and the Sea of Kara to a level where harvesting the species can be commercially profitable.
Ilya Shestakov said that it’s necessary to consider not only biological factors, but also the readiness of fisheries to exploit the resources on a commercial basis.
German Zverev, chairman of the All-Russian Association of Fishing Industry, who attended the session, said that industry is interested in fishing pollock and opilio crabs in new waters.
Ilya Shestakov gave an order to study whether it makes sense to add opilio crab in the Chukchi Sea as a registered species that would be subject to the total allowable catch (TAC), and prepare recommendations and substantiation of the limits. It was also decided to set TAC for pollock in the new waters.
Fishing in these new seas is set to start in 2020.
Totally, it’s planned that 31,900 MT of opilio crabs will be caught in the Russian Far East in 2019, which is almost 63 percent of all spider crabs to be fished this year, according to the TINRO.
