April 13, 2021 — U.S. fishermen based in Kodiak, Alaska, have reported aggressive interactions with Russian navy ships and fighter jets while fishing in American waters. NBC News’ Kevin Tibbles speaks to one fisherman about fishing near Russian waters and encountering foreign naval war games.
Scientists push for joint effort to better understand Pacific salmon trends
March 23, 2021 — Forecasting models used to determine stocks and expected landings of Pacific salmon have been rendered obsolete by climate change, and a global effort is needed to update them, a conference of leading marine scientists has concluded.
The conference, “Abundance Dynamics, Stock Status, and Artificial Reproduction of Pacific Salmon in the Northern Pacific,” took place in late February and was initiated by the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries. Held in both online and offline formats at the Sakhalin branch of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), in the Russian city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the event was attended by 500 participants from Russia, the United States, Canada, South Korea, and Japan.
As most Alaska salmon fishing regions face another season of mediocre runs, Russia hikes competitive pressure
February 24, 2021 — Alaskans are preparing for another salmon season of poor to average runs in most regions.
The big exception once again is at Bristol Bay, where another massive return of more than 51 million sockeyes is expected. Managers predict that surge will produce a harvest of over 36 million reds to fishermen.
Bristol Bay is home to the largest wild sockeye salmon run in the world and typically accounts for 42% of the world’s sockeye harvest. Those fish and all wild salmon compete in a tough worldwide commodities market, where Alaska salmon claims 13% of the global supply.
Farmed salmon production, which outnumbers wild harvests by nearly 3 to 1, is Alaska’s biggest competitor; the other is Russia.
According to global seafood trading company Tradex, Pacific salmon catches from Russia are projected to top 1 billion pounds in 2021. As a comparison, Alaska’s 2020 catch of nearly 117 million salmon weighed in at just over 500 million pounds.
The Russian catch breaks down to more than 700 million pounds of pinks, nearly 206 million pounds of chum salmon, 70.6 million pounds of sockeyes, over 24 million pounds of coho salmon and 8.8 million pounds of Chinook.
Russian Fishery Company regains MSC certification, begins construction of supertrawler
January 5, 2021 — The Russian Fishery Company (RFC) has announced that the company has been reinstated on the list of Marine Stewardship Council-certified pollock catchers, allowing it to produce and sell MSC-certified products once more.
RFC was ousted from Russia’s MSC client group, the Pollock Catchers Association (PCA), in the wake of the company proposing radical changes to the country’s fishery policies. Soon after, RFC sought remedy in court and had its ouster from the PCA suspended before regaining its membership in the PCA through court action.
Russia hints it may auction all crab quotas
December 28, 2020 — The Russian government is considering selling the remainder of the country’s crab quotas via auctions, a follow-up to its controversial decision last year to auction half of its crab-fishing rights.
Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Head Ilya Shestakov expressed openness when asked in an interview with the business paper Kommersant whether it’s possible that the remaining 50 percent of crab quotas – currently distributed based on averages of a company’s previous catch – could be sold through auctions in the future.
COVID threatening deep seafood ties between Russia and China
December 15, 2020 — China’s recent move to tighten inspections and controls of imported seafood is forcing Russian seafood exporters to begin to look at other markets.
Claiming it has found live coronavirus strains being carried by seafood imports, Chinese Customs has increased its scrutiny of all imported food, resulting in delays in the time it takes for products to get to market.
Russia ratifies Port State Measures Agreement
December 10, 2020 — Russia President Vladimir Putin signed into law the ratification of the Port State Measures Agreement on 8 December, 2020, thus making Russia a party to the law-binding document intended to help combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) catch. A few amendments to the national legislation will follow to bring Russia’s laws in line with the agreement.
Originally adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2009, the PSMA stipulates authorities at ports of entry for seafood can conduct dockside inspections, block entry to vessels known to be involved in IUU, and share information with other parties to the PSMA regarding vessels known or believed to contain IUU product.
Russian intimidation of Bering Sea fishermen shows gap in Arctic investment, Sullivan says
December 10, 2020 — The second-in-command of the U.S. Coast Guard shouldered some of the blame on Tuesday for incidents in August in which the Russian military intimidated Bering Sea fishermen out of American waters.
Admiral Charles Ray told a U.S. Senate panel the Coast Guard knew Russia was conducting a military exercise in the area and failed to tell the Bering Sea fishing industry.
“This was not our best day, with regards to doing our role to look after American fishermen — the U.S. Coast Guard,” Ray said. “I’ll just be quite frank: We own some of this.”
Alaska pollock industry asks US Senate for military back-up after warplanes buzz American Seafoods, Starbound vessels
December 9, 2020 — Stephanie Madsen, executive director of the At-sea Processors Association, testified Tuesday at a US Senate subcommittee hearing that US fishing vessels have been shaken by a spate of incidents involving Russian military vessels in the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that significantly disrupted operations the Bering Sea in August and September.
“The feeling of certainty and safety has been shattered by recent confrontations initiated by Russian military warships and warplanes with US-flagged fishing vessels operating lawfully within the US EEZ,” she testified.
Earlier this summer, the Russian Navy conducted its largest war games exercise since the Cold War near Alaska, according to the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Russia has also reopened over 50 previously closed Soviet military facilities and positioned early warning radar and missile systems near Alaska.
Russian and American Scientists say warming water is pushing Bering Sea pollock into new territory
November 20, 2020 — In a new study, scientists have linked warming Arctic temperatures, changing wind patterns and shifting currents to movement of commercially valuable Alaska pollock in the Bering Sea.
The Bering Sea has seen the loss of a summer cold water barrier in recent years, which used to keep pollock from spreading out and moving north.
But while scientists are seeing drastic shifts in pollock movement patterns, further research needs to be conducted to know what the changes mean for communities like Unalaska and Dutch Harbor and the billion-dollar pollock industry.
“This research is really critical because pollock are a key ecological component of the Bering Sea shelf food web supporting the largest commercial fishery in the U.S. by biomass,” said Robert Foy, NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center director. “To get an accurate assessment of pollock abundance so that resource managers can set sustainable catch limits, we have to be able to understand pollock distribution, which certainly looks different under a warm water regime.”
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