Large aggregations comparable to those seen in 2024 are currently absent. Analysis of the results of search operations by commercial and research vessels revealed that the 2025 feeding migrations of sardine and mackerel occurred significantly further east, in open waters.
Currently, four Russian vessels are fishing for pelagic fish southeast of the Lesser Kuril Ridge.
To locate aggregations of iwashi sardine in the northwestern Sea of Japan, search operations were launched in mid-September. Specialists from the Operational Forecasting Sector of Environmental Conditions and Fisheries, Laboratory of Commercial Oceanography, Pacific Branch of the Russian State Research Center "All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography" (VNIRO) prepared forecast maps of promising search areas.
The research vessel "Professor Kaganovsky" made a search tack from Cape Povorotny to Cape Sosunov. In the area from the villages of Terney to Svetlaya, aggregations of sardine were discovered.
The vessel then turned east. Aggregations of sardine were discovered both at the entrance to La Perouse Strait and in the strait itself. The results of the search indicate that significant aggregations of sardine are feeding in the northwestern Sea of Japan, and with the autumn cooling of surface waters, they will begin migrating to more southern areas, a migration that will continue until November.
VNIRO Press Service