BarentsNews.com

Industrial fishing for crab in the Barents Sea may start as soon as next year. It was found possible at recent session of the Permanent Russian-Norwegian Committee on Fisheries Monitoring and Management held in Murmansk.

The problem of industrial fishing in the areas where large by-catches of Kamchatka crab are frequent was raised by PINRO representatives. Both Russian and Norwegian scientists agreed to regard this species as the countries’ common resource. However, no criteria for crab fishery have been determined yet.

The Committee’s chairman Boris Prishchepa says this question should be treated with much caution: “On one hand, nobody can predict with certainty how the industrial fishery can influence crab stocks as well as what the consequences for other species such as plaice, for instance, will be. We must take into consideration such factors as forage reserves and the species growth tendencies. On the other hand, as there is no permission for industrial crab fishing, large quantities of these crustaceans hauled as by-catches are thrown back into the sea, which is certainly not a reasonable way to dispose a valuable product.” Mr Prishchepa thinks it would be better to allow crab by-catches. Moreover, as the number of crabs in the Barents Sea is already estimated at 11 million, there is no need to apply quota system. It will only be necessary in case of the stocks' depletion.

However, the final decision on permitting crab fishery can only be taken by the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fishery Commission. Its next meeting is to take place on November 4 – 6, in Oslo. Meanwhile, four vessels equipped with special fishing gear for catching crab are due to the port of Murmansk soon. Now it is up to the commission to decide whether they can start working. So, everything will become clear in November.