BarentsNews.com

Low haddock catches is a serious problem facing Russia’s North fishery at the moment. At the meeting of PINRO Fishery Council that took place on September 10, in Murmansk, it was proposed to redistribute quotas for catching haddock among the vessels that currently have enough cod quota.

The idea of reallocation followed the report of Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet’s representative Valentin Pogorelsky who informed that a substantial share of the Arkhangelsk haddock quota still remains untaken. Meanwhile, the situation looks the same in other regions.

The reason is that fishing vessels have been mostly dealing with cod, landing some haddock by-catches at the same time. Heading for far grounds to fish solely haddock would not be profitable.

In connection with haddock underfishing, the participants of the meeting could not avoid mentioning the notorious government’s decree No.1702 that was left unchanged despite the persistent claims from Northern fish-catchers.

As stipulated by the document, haddock in the Barents Sea shall only be caught by small-sized coastal vessels. Unfortunately, the regional authorities’ hands are tied in regard with this decision.

As for Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet, its representative in Murmansk promised to inform the Arkhangelsk regional Fisheries Committee’s chief Leonid Meleshko of the proposal on quotas’ redistribution. However, it is unlikely to get a positive feedback from Arkhangelsk colleagues, who will certainly protect their own interests and not share their haddock quota with other regions.