Fish industry news

As of January 2019 the Russian fishermen will be operating in a single fishing space and under a single commercial capture quota as opposed to the previous division to inshore and offshore fishing zones as well as separate offshore and inshore quota entitlements, according to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).

Russian Fishery Company (RFC) has completed the preparatory phase to enable start of construction of a state-of-the-art “Russian Pollock” processing factory in the Nadezhdinskaya Advanced Development Territory, according to RFC’s mid-December release.

As per early December Vyborg Shipyard has launched “Barents Sea” trawler-processor for Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet, design KMT01, according to the yard.

An Icelandic manufacturer of fish processing and freezing equipment for small fishing boats is scrutinizing localization of machinery assembly in Leningrad Oblast surrounding Saint Petersburg, according to CEO of Leningrad Oblast Centre for Industry Development Andrey Pivinskiy.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF) sees no prerequisites for dropping the plans of allocating half of crab quota shares at electronic auctions, according to media reports as per mid-December.

The Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor held a meeting with First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Argentine Republic Horacio Reyser on the G20 sidelines in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Horacio Reyser co-chairs the Russian-Argentinean Intergovernmental Commission which from the Russian side is headed by Sergey Dankvert. Minister of Agriculture of the Argentine Republic Luis Miguel Etchevehere and President of the National Service of Agri-Food Health and Quality (SENASA) of the Argentine Republic Ricardo Luis Negri also took part in the meeting, according to Rosselkhoznadzor.

In November 2018 a number of fish processing and fishing companies based in Vladivostok-led Primorskiy Krai (Primorye for short) exhibited their products at the largest Asian international show China Fisheries & Seafood Expo, all of them now working at export contracts with new foreign partners, according to Primorye Government.

The giant Russian Fishery Company (RFC) with fishing quotas over 320 thousand MT approved an appointment of Soren Dalsager as a Company’s Chief Commercial Officer in order to create a high performing global sales and marketing team, expand the customer base, develop new markets and sales channels, and increase the overall profitability of the growing product portfolio, according to RFC statement as per late November.

As per 5 December 2018 the Russian fishermen harvested 4.73 million metric tons of aquatic biological resources, thus showing a 6.2% rise of catches as compared to the same period last year, according to the Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF).

The stocks of pilchard Sardinops melanostictus and mackerel in the Pacific Ocean have been showing the development trends similar to those predicted by the Russian scientists in 2014-2015. Their forecast for the years coming is fairly promising.

By the end of November the Russian fleets have left not so much of the quotas of such important species as cod, haddock and crabs to be harvested during the last month of the year. 

In the recent couple of years Russia has seen a dramatic boost of catches of shrimp Pandalus borealis in the waters off Spitsbergen in the Barents Sea.

A dedicated online service has been set up for marine culture investors in the Russian Far East enabling them to form boundaries of a fish farming site and make an auction bid for it online, according to Deputy CEO of the Far East Development Fund Dmitry Chernyshev.

Raw customs data processed by Fishnet analysts show that in the first 9 months of 2018 the Russian exports of fish & crustaceans (HSC group 03) from the customs territory (equal to land + Russian EEZs except for Barents Sea) have increased both in terms of volume and value as compared to the same period of 2017. The figures cover all exports except for the catches shipped to foreign buyers from beyond the Russian customs territory in the Barents Sea (from beyond demarcation line with Norway catches are not subject to mandatory customs clearance).

Under the investment quotas scheme as per November current the Russian yards have laid 33 fishing vessels and some seven or eight boats more will be laid in the near future against orders of fishing companies, according to head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov as quoted by Korabel.

Kunashir-based Yuzhno-Kurilsky Fish Factory is building a new modern facility that will produce fish oil and fish meal using production lines from Thailand, according to Sakhalin’s regional government.

The forthcoming declining trend of Pollock abundance in the Sea of Okhotsk should not noticeably influence the Pollock season 2019 because the fishing stock will mostly be composed of mature individuals of the strong year classes 2011 and 2013. However, it is important to have an understanding how the fishery is expected to developed in the course of the A season in terms of catch rates, Pollock sizes and fishing grounds,  according to Vladivostok-based TINRO-Center fishery scientists.

Under the 2016 amendments of the Law on Fishery, as per mid-November Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (FAF) has already renewed some four thousand capture quota allocation contracts for a new term of 15 years as of 2019 inclusive, according to FAF and media reports.

The Supervisory Council of the Special Economic Zone Lotus in Astrakhan has approved a business plan of the investment project of “Construction of a plant for the production of starter and grower feeds for aquaculture facilities” submitted by Rybniye Korma JSC, according to Lotos’s press-centre.

Scientists of the School of Biomedicine of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) have developed an effective method of obtaining an antiseptic from fish oils. This new patented remedy can be used for treatment of skin and mucosae diseases caused by bacteria, microscopic fungi and protozoa. In their studies the scientists have used fish oil from such commercial Pacific fish as Japanese pilchard, saury, herring, Alaska pollock and others, according to the FEFU.