CAVIAR SALMON FISHERIES

8.6 SALMON FISHERIES

The five main Pacific salmon species are the most important resource for salmon caviar production. Atlantic salmon. Pacific cherry salmon, and trout catches make up only 2 to 12% of total world salmon landings.

As previously discussed, the most favourable species for caviar production are chum and pink. Firstly, because of the specific properties of these roe: taste, good shelflife, and large size of chum eggs. Secondly, the fishing methods used to catch these species provide for convenient delivery of large numbers of fresh fish to the processing sites. About 80-90% of chum and 60-70% of pinks are taken by seiners and gillnetters close to the shore on the migration routes to their native rivers, i.e. during the best maturity stages. The deep-sea pacific salmon fishery is strictly regulated and the tendency is to abolish it totally by international agreements. The major countries, processing the re-source are Japan, USSR, USA and Canada.

World Pacific salmon average yearly landings in the 1950's were 460,000 tons, in the 1960's 405,000 and in the 1970's 395/000 tons. For the period 1986-89 the average was 694,000 tons. This allows us to conclude that the national and international pacific salmon fisheries regulatory measures, combined with the success of hatchery salmon release efforts, are paying off and Pacific salmon resources are sustainable, manageable and growing. Thus, further development of the salmon caviar industry is assured. Table 8-6 shows salmon landings by species for 1986-89. The chum and pink landings to-gether constitute 60 to 70% of the overall yearly catch.

TABLE 8-6

WORLD PACIFIC SALMON LANDINGS IN THOUSANDS OF TONS

	1986	1987	1988	1989
Chum	239	217	286	243
Pink	211	218	164	363
Sockeye	136	131	107	169
Coho	53	35	52	60
Chinook	21	25	28	21
Total	660	626	637	856

Table 8-7 shows landings for these species by country. It illustrates that the potentially largest chum caviar producers are Japan (60 to 75% of world landings) and USA (15 to 25%). Hokaido and Yukon River chum runs are among the best resources. The best re-source for Canadian caviar production is chum caught in Johnston Strait.

TABLE 8-7

WORLD PINK AND CHUM LANDINGS IN THOUSANDS OF TONS

	CHUM				PINK
	1986	1987	1988	1989	1986	1987	1988	1989
USA	39	39	66	31	122	77	80	167
Canada	25	10	30	9	29	27	31	31
USSR	23	24	30	27	40	98	38	146
Japan	151	144	159	182	20	17	15	20
Total	238	217	285	249	211	219	164	364

The largest potential Pink caviar producers are USA and USSR. In USSR the Pink re-source is fully utilized for caviar production. Alaskan pink resources are barely used for caviar production.

The Japanese Hokaido chum run is made up from 100% hatchery grown fish. It is a classical ocean - grazing (ranching) venture. The contribution to Canadian commercial landings and sport fisheries of hatchery grown chums is 10 to 30%. Reared fish are re-leased as frys weighing 0.5-2.5 grams/ as 1+ year juveniles and smolts 5 to 20 grams. The survival rate ranges from 0.1 to 1.5% for chums, 7 to 14% for coho and 0.3 to 1.8% for chinook. Table 8-8 shows release data for pacific salmon and includes fish from hatcheries which are fed before release and fish released from artificial or improved natural spawning channels. Chums return in their third or fourth year weighing 3 to 5 kg. Pinks return in their second or third year weighing 2 to 3 kg.

TABLE 8-8

PACIFIC SALMON HATCHERY RELEASE IN 1987, IN MILLIONS

	SOC-KEYE	PINK	CHUM	COHO	CHINO-OK	MASU	TOTAL
Alaska	58	459	298	16	9	-	840
Washing-ton	-	-	94	94	178	-	366
Idaho	-	-	-	-	12		12
Oregon	-	-	.1	21	61	-	83
California	-	-	-	1	59	-	60
USA, total	58	459	393	132	319	-	1,361
Canada	247	16	199	22	55	-	539
USSR	-	400	245	2.5	2.5	-	650
Japan	-	125	2,000	-	-	14	2,139
Grand Totals	305	1,000	2,837	156.5	376.5	14	4,689

We could estimate potential salmon caviar yield using Table 2-2. The figures given there represent the theoretical biological yield of ovaries taken as a % of female body weight -8-13% for chum and 7-11% for pink. The real yield of caviar would depend largely on the maturity stage of the fish when it is landed, on freshness, on proper exe-cution of good manufacturing practices, and on the market situation, which may show a demand for other than caviar products to be made from salmon ovaries, such as 'sujiko' (salted ovaries) or bait products. That is why it is very difficult to derive salmon caviar production levels based on landings.

On the other hand, it is even more difficult to obtain statistical information on salmon caviar production. For example, USA, Canada and Japan's salmon caviar production is not shown in FAO statistics. Table 1-2. Many of the national fisheries statistical reports do not segregate salmon caviar from salmon roe, or salted ovaries. When caviar is pro-duced in bulk and exported for further repackaging in other countries it often does not show in the statistical reports. Salmon caviar appeared as a commodity item in Fisheries and Ocean Canada statistics for the first time in 1989, showing B.C. total exports of 26 tons including 10 tons to Japan and 7 tons to each USA and Germany.

This number is many times lower than the actual export quantity. The export figures un-der commodity 'Roe-cured' show an additional 841 tons. This number supposedly in-cludes both sujiko and caviar. E.g., 'roe-cured' exported in the same year to Germany, France, Denmark, U.S. for a total of 27 tons certainly represents salmon caviar, because sujiko is not consumed in these countries. That is why, in making a reasonable guessti-mate regarding salmon caviar production one can use only secondary sources and per-sonal communications. Table 8-9 summarizes salmon caviar production to the best of our knowledge.

TABLE 8-9

PACIFIC SALMON CAVIAR PRODUCTION AND
TRADE BALANCE, IN TONS (1980-1990)

	PRODUC-TION	CON-SUMP-TION	EXPORT	IMPORT	COM-MENTS
Japan	2-3,000	2,100-3,200	40-80	10-200	90% chum; consumption in bulk
USA	200-500	150-300	100-250	50-80	100% chum; export bulk & jars; consumption in jars; import bulk
Canada	200-350	15-20	190-340	4-5	90% chum; export bulk; import jars
USSR	2-4,000	1,900-3,800	100-200	-	All spedes processed; 70% pink; export bulk & tins; consumption tins

In recent years the use of ovaries from farmed salmon have been used to produce caviar. The freshness of the product is the greatest advantage. However, because farmed sal-monids are often harvested before the optimal (for caviar production) maturity stages, the technological losses may be substantial and these immature eggs are weak, and are not fit for freezing. They may have a shorter shelf life.

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8.0 PROCESSING DIFFERENT SPECIES