International Scientific Conference Held on Status of Pacific Salmon Stocks

Fisheries scientists from Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea gathered virtually at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Russia’s Sakhalin Island this past week to ponder the status and redistribution of Pacific salmon stocks.

During the Feb. 19 gathering participants agreed to continue monitoring the migrations of these fish, and to intensify the study of their marine life to improve the accuracy of forecasts, the website Fish Information & Services reported. FIS, which produces daily reports, is widely considered to be the standard for global seafood industry information on the Internet.

Ilya Shestakov, the head of Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency, noted in his address to the conference that accurate forecasting is the most important component for successful fishing, given the value and demand for this resource in world fish markets. FIS noted that the total average annual maximum catch of salmon in the North Pacific fell from 1995 through 2019. The maximum catch recorded in 2009 came to 1,138,000 tons of fish. Shestakov told conference participants that the 300,000 tons of Russian catch taken in the Far East in 2020 is not critical compared to the previous period of population depression, which was observed from 1959 though 1973.

Conference participants also decided to hold another international conference in 2022. At that conference, plans are to discuss the status of the aquatic biological resources in the North Pacific, plus the economic and social aspects of fish and reproduction in the North Pacific region.