Russian poachers drive sea urchin prices to floor, forcing legal harvesters out of business

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Zolotoi Rog ] Vladivostok 12 July 2005 -- The sea urchin's eggs make it a highly prized delicacy in Japan, and supplying them was once a very profitable business for fishing companies from here and other ports in Primorye Province. That is no more, at least for the time being.

On 25 June, the owners of the Primorye vessels engaged in this trade agreed to keep them tied up as a means of trying to get the authorities' attention and help, the Zolotoi Rog business weekly reports in its current issue.

Whereas the Primorye companies going after sea urchin were paid from the early 90's, to US $ 10 and sometimes even US $ 12-14 per kilogram, these days they are getting only US $ 2 per kilo, if indeed they can find buyers, making for zero profitability.

That's because when it became known how profitable the business was, it has been open season since 2002 for better positioned poachers operating in Sakhalin and Kuril Island waters.

The poachers are closer to Japanese ports than their Primorye authorized competitors, and have flooded the market.

The 'legal' sea urchin fishing companies, those with official licenses and quotas, tried to reduce competition among themselves by agreeing to a cut in their numbers from 24 to 14. That has not saved the day, however. The poachers, for their part, have not been troubled by the authorities so far.

Not only do they operate with impunity, says the association which represents the Primorye sea urchin fishing companies, but the 'illegals' are mercilessly plundering the resource, including landing immature product, and depriving Russia's treasury of tens of millions of dollars, according to the association.


Japanese statistics indicate that no less than 7,000 tonnes of fresh sea urchin from Sakhalin/Kuril sources found their way onto Japanese markets last year, whereas the official allowable catch quota for those waters was 1,500 tonnes.

The poachers' vessels carry between 80 and 100 tonnes of urchin and, as soon as their approach is signaled, dealers mark down prices, and there is no haggling: the poachers, and the 'legals', have to take what is offered, and currently that is ¥400-600 per kilo.