Activists push Russia to ban salmon fishing in Amur River amid abysmal returns

Activists push Russia to ban salmon fishing in Amur River amid abysmal returns

Source: seafoodsource

4/8/2022

The WWF and indigenous peoples of Russia’s Far East are pushing authorities in the country to ban salmon fishing in the Amur River, which a drastic decline in spawning salmon in recent years.

The Amur River, running along Russia’s border with China, is the longest in Russia’s Far East and the tenth-longest river in the world. The river is a spawning ground for salmon stocks in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Japan Sea, and hosts its own salmon fishery targeted by both commercial fishers and indigenous people.

Up until 2014, the Amur River salmon season started in summer and ran through mid-October. But in 2013, flooding harmed spawning grounds and caused a significant decrease in stocks, pushing the season later into the year. Since 2014, the season has begun in late August and run through mid-October.

Since the flooding, salmon returns in the region have been dismal as the population of chum salmon – the main species caught in the river – nosedived. In 2021, the season was one of the worst on record, with a projection of 13,000 metric tons (MT) of salmon – much lower than previous years – proving to be optimistic when harvesters only caught 5,700 MT, leaving many local fishermen jobless and indigenous people without fish used for nutrition throughout the year.