Recently, Russia's Far East fisheries have ushered in the "salmon outbreak". As of early September, salmon catches from the Russian Far East totaled more than 500,000 tonnes, 10 percent more than the original projection. Compared with the catch in the same period in 2020, this year's Russian fishermen can be said to have achieved a bumper harvest, with production 1.9 times that of last year!
However, this is no stranger to Russian fishermen. The Fisheries of the Far East have always been the "cornucopia" of The Russian fishery, with more than 3,000 species of aquatic biological resources with economic development value, of which more than 300 species of economic fish, and the resources of salmon, silver salmon and whitefish are particularly abundant.
It is also because of the abundance of resources that in recent years, russia's fishery sector has made frequent moves, and has transferred production to the Far East, and revitalized the Far East fishery through the construction of ports and the establishment of processing plants. Other data show that for port cities in the Far East, fishing has become the lifeblood and pillar industry of the economy. The fishing population in the Russian Far East has stabilized at more than 60,000 since 2010 and is expected to increase by another 17,000 by 2030.
It is not difficult to infer from this that the future Far East will surely usher in a large-scale fishery development, which will also bring an impact on China's fishery.
So why can Russia's Far East seas become a "fish reservoir"?
First, the Far East has a vast sea area, many bays, and a wide variety of fish species, and the development of fisheries has natural advantages.
In the east of Russia, from south to north are the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Bering, all three sea areas are important fishing grounds in Russia, of which the Sea of Japan produces more than 600 species of fish, and the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Bering have more than 300 species. The total area of these three sea areas is as high as 4.86 million square kilometers, which is about half of the total land area of China, and the geographical advantage is unique.
Second, many sea areas are located at the junction of ocean currents, which are rich in nutrients and have high primary productivity.
By examining the flow chart of the world's ocean currents, it is not difficult to find that the confluence of cold and warm currents can often give birth to world-class large fisheries, such as Hokkaido fisheries and North Sea fisheries. In the North Pacific and Bering Sea, the Cold Current of the Thousand Islands and the Warm Current of the North Pacific Ocean meet, creating a lively scene of sea fish, seabirds and sea animals competing for prey.
The confluence of cold and warm ocean currents disturbs the nutrients in the ocean sediment, and a large amount of nutrient salts gushes into the upper layers, and plankton take the opportunity to breed and prosper, providing abundant bait for fish, which is the main reason for the prosperity of fisheries.
Third, the fishing is moderate, and the enhancement and stocking are the icing on the cake.
Salmon from the Fisheries of the Far East account for 99% of Russia's total production, and the scale of fishing has gradually expanded, but the quota fishing system is strictly enforced, and overfishing is relatively less likely. At the Lenin Fishing Farm in Kamchatka, there are three medium-tonnage fishing vessels, each with a cargo capacity of about 500 tons, which can catch thousands of tons of fish at a time.
Russia catches more salmon, but also has more flow. Through artificial breeding, tens of millions of juvenile salmon are released each year. Stockpile surveys from 1994 to 2004 show that fishing countries such as Russia, the United States, and Japan release more than 5 billion salmon each year, and if the rate of return is calculated at 2%, then theoretically the release contributes hundreds of millions of fish production.
One might ask, is there anything to do with China when Russian fisheries have ushered in a bumper harvest?
Not only is there, but the relationship is quite large. According to statistics from 2017 to 2019, most of the fish products in the Russian Far East are sold to Asia-Pacific countries, and China is the most important consumer country.
Take exports in 2019 as an example. Fish products exported from Far Eastern fisheries to China accounted for 48.2 percent, South Korea accounted for about 43.3 percent and Japan accounted for 8.5 percent. This means that almost half of the aquatic products exported from the Far East go to China.
Changes in the export of aquatic products from the Far East
In the three years from 2017 to 2019, the total number of aquatic products exported to China from the Far East was 2.966 million tons, of which more than 80% were simple processed frozen fish, and another 16% were crustacean products. If it were not for the impact of the epidemic, it is expected that the aquatic products flowing into the Chinese market in 2021 would also reach 1 million tons, which is a fairly large product volume. In the context of the pandemic, domestic imports have contracted, and processing enterprises in the northeast region have not been able to accept processing orders as in previous years, and business transformation is inevitable; and Russia has to force itself to improve its local processing capacity, which is a huge test for both sides.
However, Russia is full of confidence in the future of the Far East fisheries. In 2017, the Fisheries Commission of the Russian Federation formulated the Development Strategy for the Fisheries Complex of the Russian Federation until 2030, which plans to increase the catch of aquatic organisms to 5.4 million tons by 2030, and to achieve this goal, at least 7,000 tons of seafood will be caught per year. In terms of aquaculture, production is planned to increase from 350 000 tonnes in 2021 to 610 000 tonnes in 2030, with a target increase of 75%.
It has to be said that the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency is indeed playing a big game, which is indispensable for large-scale investment. Of all the investment projects, salmon farming projects receive the most investment, estimated at 50 billion rubles, and the second most invested project is also expected, namely the fishing and processing of Antarctic krill, with an estimated investment of 45 billion rubles.
Compared with the resource-rich salmon, Antarctic krill is undoubtedly a bigger cake and has a greater resource advantage.
Antarctic krill is 3 to 6 cm long, and lives in clusters in the cold waters around the Antarctic continent, which is natural, pollution-free, and has great economic development value. The survey shows that the resource reserves of Antarctic krill are as high as 5 to 1 billion tons, and the biomass available for fishing is more than 4 times the total catch of the world, which is expected to become a "protein resource bank" for mankind in the future.
It is precisely because of this that the world's major fishing powers have turned to Antarctica, regarding the exploration and fishing of Antarctic krill as a strategic project. In China's Antarctic scientific expedition, Antarctic krill is also a key object of investigation, including shrimp detection, fishing sampling and laboratory research. In May 2019, China's first professional-class Antarctic krill fishing vessel was officially launched, the ship is 120 meters long, 21.6 meters wide, the main engine power is 8,000 kilowatts, the load is 5,000 tons, and the annual shrimp catching capacity can reach 80,000 to 100,000 tons.
Although Antarctic krill has been fished since the 1960s, until now the annual harvest has not exceeded 600,000 tons, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, global fishing production has further fallen to 300,000 to 400,000 tons. The current Antarctic krill fishing industry is still in its infancy, most of the vessels have backward fishing equipment, technology needs to be improved, and the future potential is huge.
Incidentally, artificial krill fishing does not lead to resource depletion, as human catches are far less than other wildlife. Baleen whales, seals, penguins and Antarctic fish can eat 200 to 300 million tons of krill per year, compared to the almost negligible harvest of hundreds of thousands of tons in humans.
Surveys show that the krill reserves of the Antarctic 48 fishing grounds alone are about 40 million to 60 million tons. If the global catch is calculated at 400,000 tons, then the fishery's annual shrimp production is enough for all humans to develop for 150 to 200 years. Of course, if the natural reproduction of krill is considered, then this resource is almost unlimited.
It is conceivable that if Russia's Antarctic krill fishing and processing project can be successfully implemented, then the status of today's "krill brother" (Norway) may not be guaranteed. At that time, China, Russia and Norway will become the main development countries.
At present, China's fishing capacity has reached more than 100,000 tons, Norway is more than 200,000 tons, and if Russia can form a professional fleet, the actual catch is expected to exceed 200,000 tons by 2030. By then, the world's krill fishing capacity will exceed the 500,000-ton mark, on par with the Soviet union in the 1980s.
However, fisheries surveys have shown that the current Antarctic krill population has decreased significantly compared with previous years, and the main influencing factor is not commercial fishing, but global climate change.
Antarctic krill is a typical cold-water species, suitable for living in low-temperature seawater from minus 1.3 °C to upper zero 2.2 °C. Due to the rise in global temperature, the distribution zone of Antarctic krill continues to move and compress to high latitudes, and large areas of Antarctic sea ice have melted, and the habitat and shelter of Antarctic krill have been lost. Warming seawater is challenging the survival of this species.
In short, whether it is a conventional resource such as salmon or a unique resource such as Antarctic krill, the establishment of strict fishing quotas is only the first step, and slowing the rise in global temperatures is the real remedy.
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