According to the forecast for the development of the fishery resource base in the Sea of Azov through 2040, developed by specialists at the branch, current conditions of warming and increasing salinity in the Sea of Azov have created favorable conditions for the reproduction and growth of shrimp and shellfish populations.
Data analysis shows that over the past five years, commercial shrimp stocks have increased 3.5-fold. With declining stocks of traditional fisheries, operators have increasingly turned to more promising commercial species, including shrimp. This led to a record catch in 2024, 16 times higher than in 2020.
According to Elena Saenko, head of the laboratory of commercial invertebrates, the current salinity level is optimal for shrimp of the genus Palaemon and does not represent the upper limit of their comfort zone for this ecological factor. If the current salinity level is maintained and possibly increased, the abundance and biomass of commercial aggregations are predicted to remain stable, with a trend toward further growth.
The traditional shrimp fishing grounds were the Kerch Strait, Taman Bay, and the southern part of the Sea of Azov. With the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the Russian Federation, the fishing grounds have expanded, and the number of users engaged in shrimp fishing has increased, including regions in the Northern Azov region. Currently, Black Sea shrimp fishing in the Sea of Azov is carried out throughout the entire water area, including the Sivash, Taman, and Dinskoy Bays, as well as the Utlyuk Estuary.
In the first 10 months of 2025, the shrimp catch amounted to over 350 tons, the highest figure for the same period in the past three years. The largest catch volumes are recorded in the Northern Azov region.
VNIRO Press Service
