Demand for order

On behalf of a numerous group of fishermen from the Okhotomorsky commercial grounds I have to attract your attention to the burning issue of conservation of our feedstock, and first of all, of Pollack and crab in the Sea of Okhotsk. Last five years marked an annual worsening of the state of these subjects; the amount of crab catch is decreasing. In winter up to 60 per cent of crab caught is too young and it casts its shell when comes back into the sea. According to specialists a great deal of crab dies at low temperatures. Much of immature small Pollack is caught during fishing in permitted grounds; there is a decline in fish catch in all figures. For the recent years we have a number of questions unsolved connected with simultaneous Pollack fishing in limited waters by large— and middle capacity fleets, crab catch by traps and ground fish by setline. It is extremely difficult to deal with these problems without scientific recommendations and very often it is impossible. At present fishery research vessels are trying to solve problems of self-financing. We ask to make TINRO (Kamchatka Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography) — a coordinative center for Pollock fishery. The staff of this institute did what they could for fishermen for the last fishing seasons. We request you to confirm the Okhotomorsky headquarters for commercial grounds, to vest it with authorities, to give it instructions to send plenipotentiary scientists representatives to fishing grounds, give on-line recommendations on how to regulate fishery to conserve the source of feedstock in the Sea of Okhotsk. We suggest closing TINRO’s deep trench for fishing confined by 56° 40'–58° 00' 152° 00'–154° 30' as a primary means to preserve Pollock stock, as the trench provides traditional grounds for fattening of young Pollock. Different proposals concerning teamwork during fishery, conservation of the source of feedstock, foreign fishing come to the headquarters. Taking into account a large-scale Pollock fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk in winter we ask you to make provision for a conference after it, preferably in July, to be held in Vladivostok with all parties concerned and first of all with representatives of collectives of fishermen having great expertise and observation records. The question of rational exploitation of the feedstock of the Sea of Okhotsk must be the main one. We hope due consideration of fish science to the problems of winter fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk will let us in the nearest future succeed in fishing with the feedstocks conserved.