Last updated on 23 January 2012
The majority of the thirteen proposed stock units within Russian jurisdiction are believed to be assessed by bottom trawling surveys. Analytical assessments (VPA) are conducted for at least the Karaginsky subzone (PCA, 2010a). Survey frequency varies by area, but has been annual in Karaginsky. Survey and assessment results are generally consistent (PCA, 2010a).
Last updated on 23 January 2012
Stock assessments in the Russian part of the Bering Sea are conducted by scientists from the regional scientific/research institutes of the State Fisheries Committee. In the Russian Far East these institutes include: the Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (TINRO); the Sakhalin Scientific Institute of Fishing Industry (SakhNIRO); and the Kamchatka Scientific Institute of Fishing Industry (KamchatNIRO). The responsibilities of these institutes, as well as the Moscow-based VNIRO, include: (1) the assessment and monitoring of fisheries resources; (2) the development of allowable harvest levels; and (3) the development of means to restore and improve aquatic habitats.
However, comprehensive information on stocks is not available to the general public because it is regarded as confidential and/or commercially sensitive and the biological criteria by which catch quotas are set are unclear. Following stock assessment by the regional research institutes, recommendations for the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) are submitted at the request of the State Fisheries Committee to VNIRO in Moscow, for compilation of the Proposed Total Allowable Catch (PTAC) for approval.
Last updated on 23 Jan 2012
Reference points are believed to be in place but values could not be obtained.
Last updated on 23 January 2012
In the absence of publicly available biological reference points and stock assessments, quantitative evaluations of the stock status cannot be provided.
Overall, the cod stock is considered to be at a stable level and slowly growing, and is not thought to be either over or underfished. Survey and/or assessment data appears to support this view, with strong biomass increases in the West Bering Sea and Karaginsky, and above average biomass in the Petropavlovsk sub-zone, three of the most important fishing areas in recent years (PCA, 2010a). Sea of Okhotsk cod status is not clear, but it appears its biomass is still low, following a decline in the 1990s, but is expected to increase (PCA, 2010c; Vinnikov, 2008).
Several of the smaller units do not have enough data to allow their status to be determined.
A relatively short life cycle and variable year-class abundance means cod stocks are unstable and vulnerable to environmental factors and to changes in fishing patterns (PCA, 2010a).
Last updated on 23 Jan 2012
The Pacific cod fishery in the West Bering Sea, one of the most important fishing areas, began in the late 1960s, increasing rapidly to peak in 1971 with catches of 91,600 tons, and leading to the depletion of the fishery and no targeted catches in the latter half of the 1970s. From the 1980s the stock condition improved and catches climbed to a stable level around 40-60,000 tons by the early 1990s. Natural environmental processes are thought to have led to decreases in abundance in the following years, and catches remained mostly stable at a lower level between 18,000 and 29,000 tons even as the stock has increased in size (PCA, 2010a).
The largest catches are presently recorded in the Karaginsky subzone, but the maximum catches in this area were of just 34,000 tons in 1984. From the early 1990s the stock experienced a decline and catches have since varied between 7,000 and 27,000 tons. In recent years, a rapid stock growth has been observed in surveys and analytical assessments (PCA, 2010a).
In the other major fishing area, the Sea of Okhotsk, cod also declined during the 1990s due to factors unrelated to overfishing (PCA, 2010a).
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Pacific cod - W Bering Sea, Russia W Bering Sea, Russian Federation, Longlines