Speaking to the participants of FEBSIC, the Governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako noted the importance of the fisheries industry for the regional economy. According to him, the fisheries complex is one of the key links not only for Primorsky Krai, but also for the economy of all regions of the Far East.
"Tens of thousands of people work in the fishing industry. Understanding the strategic importance of the fishing industry, we pay great attention to it," Oleg Kozhemyako emphasized.
He noted that the fisheries institutes united under the auspices of VNIRO are doing important work to attract young people to the industry. They pay serious attention to the rejuvenation of personnel and their professional training.
"This is important for the continuity of generations, for the development of the industry. The issues of staffing the industry are among the most important and are of great importance for fisheries enterprises," said the Governor of Primorye.
The head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov, addressing the participants of the Far Eastern Scientific and Practical Council, noted that, despite the not-so-best results of the salmon run in 2024, it is necessary to move on.
"So, today there are good results in the catch of ivasi. We [the industry] are faced with the task of reaching the level of ivasi catch that was in the Soviet Union (890 thousand tons). We must strive for this. This year we will not reach this record, but next year, I hope, we will break it," said Ilya Shestakov.
Traditionally, the results of the salmon run of the outgoing year are discussed at the autumn meeting of the Far Eastern Scientific and Practical Council.
The report "Results of the salmon fishing season in the Far Eastern fishery basin in 2024" was presented by the director of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation "All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography" (VNIRO), Doctor of Economics Kirill Kolonchin.
In his speech, the director of VNIRO presented an analysis of the situation with salmon fishing in each region of the Far East. He noted that in preparation for the 2024 salmon fishing season, VNIRO developed materials to forecast the catch of six species of Pacific salmon in seventeen fishing areas.
"As part of the scientific support for the salmon fishing season in the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2024, trawl surveys were conducted in the Okhotsk, Primorsky and Kuril Seas of the Pacific Ocean. The census of migrating juveniles to ocean feeding areas was carried out from on board two research vessels by 43 specialists. The total area of the surveyed waters exceeded 2 million square kilometers. "255 research stations have been established," Kirill Kolonchin told the participants of the Far Eastern Scientific and Practical Society.
Continuing his speech, the director of VNIRO noted that 110 seasonal observation points have been organized at VNIRO for scientific support of the salmon fishing season, with about 200 employees working there. The total volume of collected material exceeded 52 thousand samples. VNIRO scientists recorded the number of salmon producers released for spawning in 132 water bodies.
"The studies were conducted from both manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, and in areas with high forest isolation - during foot surveys. Most of the surveys were accompanied by photo and video recording with subsequent processing and analysis of the obtained data using artificial intelligence," Kirill Kolonchin emphasized.
He reported that VNIRO scientists have begun analyzing the situation in order to determine the reason for the deviation of the forecast values from the actual catch.
Kirill Kolonchin noted that scientists conducted an analysis that revealed a number of patterns, the combined coincidence of which affected the overall results. Moreover, the director of VNIRO noted, such a deviation was typical not only for the regions of the Far East. Similar phenomena were typical for Alaska, where the predicted catch turned out to be less than expected by an identical amount. Thus, ongoing climate changes, such as global warming and the "warming" of the World Ocean, affected the migration of salmon species, the redistribution of food resources. As a result, Kirill Kolonchin noted, the ongoing changes negatively affect the survival rate, and ultimately - the number of approaches and catch of Pacific salmon.
Summing up his speech, the Director of VNIRO reported that the Institute had already begun preparing a strategy for the 2025 salmon fishing season. Scientists had begun working on a completely new concept of synthetic forecasting using the capabilities of artificial intelligence.
Then, Deputy Director and Head of the Pacific Branch of VNIRO Alexey Baitaluk made reports on preparations for the 2025 Okhotsk pollock fishing season and on the state of resources and measures to regulate fishing in the Bering Sea.
Then, the participants of the Far Eastern Fisheries and Oceanography Council voted on proposals to amend the Fishing Rules for the Far Eastern Fishing Basin, which had been developed the day before during a meeting of the working groups.
Press service of VNIRO
