Fish industry news
In January-June 2023 Russian finfish and other seafood imports jumped by 54% year-on-year, both in value and in volume, according to the recent market analysis of Defa group – a fish and seafood supplier based in Saint Petersburg.
All-Russian Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE) has completed the analysis of export supplies of Russian fish products in key markets in the first quarter of 2023.
By June 21, 2023, the total catch of Pacific salmons in the Far East exceeded 3.6 thousand metric tons, plus 43% on the corresponding result of the odd year 2021.
The current condition of the fish stocks make the Russian scientists recommend higher allowable catches of Alaska pollock and herring in the Far East Basin in 2024 — such optimistic forecast was given by Evgeny Ovsyannikov representing the Pacific branch of VNIRO fishery research institute at a scientific and practical forum in Vladivostok.
X5 Group, the leading food retail company in Russia, held a meeting with the Fish Union which unites Russian seafood producers and processors.
Russian fishery scientists forecast that this year Kamchatka will contribute 75 percent of the total salmon catch in the nation's Far Eastern basin.
On May 15, 2023, dedicated Alaska pollock fishery took off in the West Bering Sea zone. The total allowable catch in the area has been approved at 612 thousand metric tons — +53 thousand MT year-on-year and record strong for the past 15 years. According to estimates of the Pollock Catchers Association (PCA), the TAC can be covered by 85-90%.
The coastal facilities in the Russian Far East can process up to one million metric tons of Alaska pollock. In particular, the Kuril Islands show a great processing potential.
A new large wholesale distribution center with a coldstore will be built in the Solnechnogorsk city district (Moscow region).
Vlaidostok-led Primorskiy Krai Territory will raise its coldstorage capacity by 37,000 metric tons with a new wholesale distribution center that is being built now.
One of Russia’s biggest fishery holdings Norebo is going to refuse the services of Northern Shipyard (Severnaya Verf) in St. Petersburg (part of the State United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC) to complete the construction of its four trawlers at its own shipyard.
Russian Largest Transport and Logistics Company – FESCO Transportation Group – for the first time in the nation’s history delivered live crab from Moscow to Vladivostok in an innovative aquacontainer.
Herring is one of Russia’s most popular fish species enjoying steady and strong demand. Experts of the Russian Agricultural Bank studied herring production and consumption in Russia, as well as its export potential on the world market.
Scientists of Azov-Black Sea branch of VNIRO (AzNIIRKH) have created a unique database on Antarctic krill biology and fishery. According to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), the information base will become an actual tool when Russian fishermen resume krill fishing and processing. Work on the development of large-scale krill fishing has been carried out by Rosrybolovstvo together with the industry community over the past years.
Russia for the for the first time in history overtook the United States in pollock fillet production, as last year local fishermen increased the production by 16.8% to 139,000 tons, according to the Russian Pollock Association (ADM).
One of Russia’s biggest mobile operator MegaFon has built communication facilities in the Barents Sea for one of the key Russian companies in the commercial fish farming sector.
The Interregional Association "Longline Fishery" has extended the validity of its MSC certificate to four additional fishing areas for Pacific cod.
Russian fish company Continent has launched a new Svetlana hatchery for breeding Pacific salmon broodstock on the Iturup Island of the Kuril Archipelago.
On December 20, 2022, at the plenary session of the State Duma, the law on the second stage of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations was adopted in the second and third readings. Amendments are being made to the federal law "On Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources".
It is possible to single out several events or trends that have a significant impact on the Russian pollock industry, according to Alexey Buglak, president of Pollock Catchers Association, interviewed by Fishnews.