Media sources: FSA is in favor of walleye pollock stock conservation
The Far Eastern Research Fisheries Council supported the proposals of the Fishery Shipowners Association (FSA) to increase the selectivity of fishing gear and the development of walleye pollock quotas.
At the meeting of the Council in Vladivostok, Vice President of FSA Sergey Karyakin drew attention to the predicted decline in walleye pollock stock in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk.
The stock is characterized by a low quantity of undersized fish. Generations of three- to four-year-old walleye pollock are not enough to preserve or increase the capture level. Fishing practice and observer data indicate a large amount of juvenile catches. The share of juvenile bycatch is often at the maximum allowable level of 20%.
He suggested that sectoral science and fisheries organizations arrange jointly new requirements for the selectivity of trawl codends by March 1, 2022. Testing of the new standards is expected to begin in 2023.
Sergey Karyakin also suggested that the Council should consider the possibility of joint development of the total allowable catch in the Northern Sea of Okhotsk, West Kamchatka and Kamchatka-Kuril subzones as a single stock. “Despite the TAC allocation by zones, the walleye pollock stock in the Sea of Okhotsk is considered by science as a single one. At the same time, fishing statistics over the past 10 years show the highest TAC development in the Northern Sea of Okhotsk subzone (90%), and at the level of 60–70% in the West Kamchatka and Kamchatka-Kuril subzones, in which joint development is allowed,” stressed the Vice President of FSA.
The participants of the Far Eastern Research Fisheries Council supported the proposal on the fishing selectivity; the issue of the quota development for three subzones was submitted for consideration by the walleye pollock special council. Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) was recommended to conduct the necessary research and present the results as soon as possible.