COMPLETED Russia Western Kamchatka salmon - beach seine/trap net

The Vityaz-Avto and Delta West Kamchatka salmon fishery is located on the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The fishery area includes the northern portion of the Kamchatka-Kuril fishery subzone (05.4) and the southern portion of the Western Kamchatka subzone (05.2). This FIP, initiated in 2015 covered coastal trap nets and in-river beach seines harvest methods used by the fishers to catch coho and sockeye salmon returning to the Vorovskaya, Opala, Golygina, and Koshegochek rivers; coho to the Ozernaya river; and sockeye to the Kol river from July to September. An MSC pre-assessment was completed for pink, chum, sockeye and coho salmon returning to these rivers in 2014 (excluding Ozernaya sockeye which were already MSC certified). A portion of the fishery (pink and chum salmon returning to the Vorovskaya, Kol, Opala, Golygina, Koshegochek, and Ozernaya rivers, as well as coho salmon to the Kol River) entered full MSC assessment in March 2015 and got certified in September 2016.

The fishery has been managed for region-wide escapement goals, and catches have remained high in recent years. There are no hatcheries on the rivers under assessment/certification. Kamchatka steelhead/rainbow trout is an ETP species that occurs in the area, but there is little information on how many steelhead are caught by the commercial fishery. Chinook salmon are present as well, but their numbers have been low enough to prompt a commercial harvest ban starting in 2010.

FIP Description Update February 2022

In 2018-2019, two more companies, Kamber Co Ltd and Pymta Co Ltd joined the main certificate holders, Vityaz-Avto Co. Ltd and Delta Co Ltd as the new co-sharers of the West Kamchatka Salmon fishery salmon certificate. As a result, two additional UoAs for pink and chum salmon, returning to Pymta River successfully underwent an assessment as part of the scope extension process and were certified in October 2019. The coho and sockeye salmon returning to Pymta and other rivers (excluding Kol coho which were already MSC certified since 2016) were assessed as primary species and did not get certified. 

In 2020, the Vityaz-Avto, Delta, Kamber, Pymta client-group entered the first re-assessment for the West Kamchatka salmon fishery. In July of 2021, six UoAs previously certified, i.e. the Ozernaya River sockeye salmon, pink and chum salmon in the Ozernaya, Opala, Golygina, Koshegochek, Pymta, Kol rivers (Kamchatka-Kuril subzone), pink and chum salmon in Vorovskaya river (Western Kamchatka subzone), and the Kol river coho salmon passed recertification.

Finally, the FIP coho species were included in this assessment. As a result, the FIP coho salmon managed in the Kamchatka-Kuril subzone (Ozernaya, Yavinskaya, Koshegochek, Golygina, Opala and Pymta rivers) successfully passed the certification. However, coho salmon returning to Vorovskaya river and sockeye salmon targeted in this FIP did not gain MSC certification at this time (p. 11, Figure 1. Location of the fishery units of certification in western Kamchatka rivers included are highlighted and underlined of "VA-Delta MSC PCR Revised 12.28.21.pdf"). "Sockeye in western Kamchatka north of the Bolshaya were identified as a minor P2 species due to limited stock assessment data for sockeye in this area" (p. 46, "VA-Delta MSC PCR Revised 12.28.21.pdf"). Therefore, the client-fishery made the decision to complete this FIP for coho species and discontinued the sockeye FIP. It is worth noting, during this reassessment some non-Ozernaya sockeye were identified as inseparable or practically inseparable. According to the Assessment Team at MRAG Americas, "about 90% of the sockeye salmon harvested from marine parcels south of the Opala River have been found to be Ozernaya-bound sockeye" and "thus, sockeye from marine parcels between the Opala and Ozernaya rivers are candidates to be [...] sold as certified" (p. 16, Section 4.4 Eligibility of Inseparable or Practicably Inseparable (IPI) stock(s) ​​​of "VA-Delta MSC PCR Revised 12.28.21.pdf"). The Public Certification Report (PCR) published on MSC in July was revised by MRAG Americas in December 2021 and is now available: VA-Delta MSC PCR Revised 12.28.21.pdf. For any additional information regarding this fishery, please refer to its main MSC profile: https://fisheries.msc.org/en/fisheries/va-delta-kamchatka-salmon-fisheries/@@assessments.