Khabarovsk Territory is preparing to open commercial fishing for Okhai.
The government of the Khabarovsk Territory advised the local branch of VNIRO to prepare proposals regarding the scope of the industrial catchment of Oki by December 31.
After that, the fish should be included in the list of industrial fishing objects, and the president of the Association of Fishing Industry Enterprises in the region, Sergey Ryavechenko, predicts that legal fishing will begin around 2027.
Since 2025, recreational fishing laws allow one fish to be taken per day, but the law prohibits the sale of such a catch.
"Now there are large catches of oca, but it has to be thrown away, and if this fish is traded, it is illegal. So since it is no longer in the Red Book, everything should be done legally," Ryabchenko explained.
Scientists proposed to transfer the auka to a commercial species already in 2011, but it, along with catfish and Soldatov's yellow fish, left the federal red book only in 2020, and the regional one in 2023.
The head of the Khabarovsk branch of VNIRO, Denis Kutsiuk, then explained the decision by the widespread nature of the species: Oko accounted for 5-7% of the catch in the control nets.
Restaurants in the area that already include okha on the menu buy it from China or Aqua Farms and serve it with potatoes, ferns and mushrooms. Every shipment must be registered in the Mercury system.
According to Ryavechenko, the oki fishing will not give a big economic impact either to the enterprises or to the region, and the priority will remain with traditional and amateur fishing.