Seasonal migrations, assessed biomass and some long-term patterns of distribution for japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicas (Engraulidae) at the coasts of Sakhalin Island

In the first decade of 21st century, aggregations of japanese anchovy were regularly observed off the western and eastern coasts of Sakhalin in summer and autumn seasons, where reached 52о00′ N in the Tatar Strait and 53о20′ N in the Okhotsk Sea. In total, they migrated to the eastern coast during 23 years and to the western coast during 35 years (since 1989 till 2023). The anchovy approaches to the Sakhalin coasts corresponded with dynamics of this species populations in the Tsushima Current and Kuroshio waters and coincided well with the period of japanese sardine depression both in the Japan Sea and North-West Pacific. In the years of high abundance, about 100–300 thousand tons of japanese anchovy could be landed at Sakhalin annually, if the fishery would be organized properly.