ARKHANGELSK, May 19. /TASS/. New fish stocks in the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone were discovered in the Kara and Chukchi Seas over the past five years. Some of them are commercially developed now, head of the national fishery authority, Rosrybolovstvo, Ilya Shestakov told a conference on bio resources and fisheries in the Arctic, which Arkhangelsk hosted.
"Trans-Arctic crossings - we have made two such crossings over the recent five years when we studied fish stocks in the entire Arctic. A lot has been achieved, we have discovered new stocks that already have been put into commercial circulation in the Chukchi Sea, and we have discovered new stocks in the Kara Sea that are not yet developed commercially," he said.
The fishery authority has been watching the dynamics of reserves in the Arctic's Russian economic zone, this is specifically important in the climate change. "We realize the current climate change, and fishers point to the scattering stocks in the Arctic. It is very important for us to watch the dynamics, to see how the reserves develop in the Laptev Sea and other Arctic seas. These accumulated data will be used for more accurate scientific forecasts of what will happen in the Arctic," he continued.
The thawing ice opens new fishing areas, he added, stressing it is too early to speak about reserves in those locations. "It is still difficult to speak about any serious plans. <...> So far, only the scientific community in the open part of the Arctic is approaching the aspect of how these studies should be conducted," he said.
In the Barents and Norwegian Seas shrimp production has grown, and there is a clear potential for an increase in crab production, he said. "We have been introducing some types of new biological resources into the fishery. <...> As for the Barents and Norwegian Seas, there is an increase in shrimp production. I am not sure whether the increased crab [production] [is related climate change], this is what scientist will explain to us about the production in the Northern basin. We anyway can see how fishing is developing actively there and how stocks are growing. We in fact can double the crab production there. We haven't done it just due to economic aspects," he said.
Northern Sea Route bio resources
Kirill Kolonchin, Director of the Fisheries and Oceanography Research Institute told the conference about ongoing studies of bio resources in waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The Chukchi and Kara Seas are the richest in resources, scientists say. "Long-term studies of open areas in seas of the Arctic's eastern sector have found that most promising are resources of the Chukchi and Kara Seas, where Arctic cod, pollock, cod, snow crab, halibut flounder are found in commercial quantities," he said.
According to the scientists, the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea are poor in resources, and there could be fishing of Arctic cod for expedition purposes only.
The institute's director pointed to difficulties which scientists experience in studying reserves in NSR waters. "We have to state that today regular-basis studies are only in the ice situation, and it mostly is based on satellite data. True studies <…> of aquatic biological resources are practically almost fragmentary nowadays," he said, explaining the situation by a lack of a high ice-class research vessel, by the fact the territories are remote, and by the poor development of coastal infrastructures for bunkering ships, crews shifts, and for rescue operations.
The institute plans coastal studies near NSR's main port infrastructures at six locations, he continued. "From the fishery point of view, on one hand, they are poorly studied, and on the other hand, they have a promising value. We continue studies at those locations and can say that we will receive quantitative information, and over these ten years we can speak about the steady growth of industrial fishing based on the new data," the scientist said.
About conference
Arkhangelsk hosted a conference on bio resources and fishing in the Arctic on May 11 - 12. The conference was on the list of events under Russia's chairing role at the Arctic Council in 2021 - 2023. The events' operator was the Roscongress Foundation.