Fish industry news

This year Russian Fishery Company and others managed to deliver as much as 16 thousand MT of fish from Kamchatka to St. Petersburg along Northern Sea Route. Of course, it is not much, just three tramper vessels (Kommunary Nikolaeva, Kapitan Pryakha, Bereg Nadezhdy), but it was just the beginning, and experts think a successful one.

The 6th International Fishery Congress has taken place in Vladivostok on September, 6-7.

The congress has been rather poorly promoted, there is not much information about it either on its internet page or in livejournal, twitter and facebook pages even in Russian, and almost nothing in English. Our correspondent was present at almost all events at the Congress, and has summed up his impressions.

There is a new General Director in Nakhodka BAMR, one of the biggest Russian fishing companies. The company board decided of early termination of Peter Savchuk's authority and appointed Oleg Darkin as the new head of the company.

The ten year quota shares have led to poor quota exhaustion and declining competition between the fishermen harvesting freshwater species, and, in particular, pike-perch in the big Pskovsko-Chudskoe Lake, according to the region's government.

In the first half the domestic gross product of the Russian fishery industry displayed the greatest growth rate as compared to the other branches of the national economy, according to the Federal Statistical Service.

The British Columbia, Canada spiny dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) fishery has received Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as a sustainable fishery following an independent, scientific assessment conducted by an accredited certification body, Moody Marine Limited, according to MSC.

The time of year when pelagic pair trawling for herring is the most effective method is here. According to Gudlaugur Jónsson, skipper of Ingunn AK, fishing has been very good and production at the Vopnafjördur factory has also been going well now that the flow of raw material has been resumed after a spell of bad weather at the end of last week that interrupted fishing, according to HB Grandi.

White belly flounder (rock sole) and yellow fin sole have emerged this year as new best sellers with Moscow fish processors, according to trading sources in the Capital.

Later this autumn Russia and Norway are going to launch a joint fishery site.

In August, exports of codfish, including clipfish, salted fish and dried cod, totalled NOK 915.7 million, representing an increase of NOK 182 million, or 25%, on August last year, according to figures from the NSEC. Never before has the value of codfish exports been so high, either for the month of August or for the period so far this year. Exports from January until the end of August amounted to a total of NOK 7.3 billion, according to NSEC.

Dedicated press-conference of Chilean Ambassador to Russia scheduled for 12 September current is starting a massive campaign to promote Patagonia Mussel Brand on the nation's seafood market, according to Trade Delegation of Chile in Russia.

In August, the total value of Norway's salmon exports was NOK 2.1 billion. This represents a decrease of NOK 312 million, or 13%, compared with August last year. So far this year, sales have been worth NOK 19.3 billion, representing an increase of NOK 389 million on 2010. France is still the most important market for salmon, with sales worth NOK 315 million in August. Russia is Norway's next largest market, importing for NOK 225 million, according to NSEC.

According to estimated figures, in August 2011 the Russian harvest in the Atlantic Ocean and Southeast Pacific increased by 1,200 MT to 111,000 MT. The contribution of Kaliningrad-based vessels also rose to 28%, reports www.megafishnet.com.

Before the end of August a third reefer is to leave Kamchatka for St. Petersburg. Meanwhile ETA of tramper «Kommunary Nikolajeva» to St. Petersburg is scheduled for 28 August current, while M/V Kapitan Pryakha is to arrive to the northern capital on September 2, according to http://www.megafishnet.com/

Salmon fisheries as well as Pollock and Pollock roe shipments to Japan, China and Korea have produced the most interesting developments, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/ with reference to Russian, American and Japanese sources.

Buyers of Far-Eastern fish had all been panicking from early August before working solutions started to be made. Last month Primorsky Krai Department (Capital Vladivostok) of Rosselkhoznadzor Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (FSVPS) all at once stopped issuance of HCs for exported fish products. At the same time fish entrance to China without HCs should be impossible, even for tolling, no matter whether it was duly paid for or not.

The reason behind was the Resolution of Antimonopoly Service Department in Primorsky Krai dated July, 14, which forbade FSVPS to ask a "conclusion" of Ussurijsk Interregional Veterinary Lab following a complaint from Russian Pollock exporters. The decision was executed immediately on receiving official copy of the decision. That's why the buyers of cargo in transit that had already left Russia suffered most before online solutions were found out.

FSVPS is absolutely unhappy with Antimonopoly decision. The first thing they've done was an appeal to a court against it. The body is looking for supporters among companies who suffered in this situation. In fact, they took them as hostages and now ask them to write supportive petitions to different authorities. " A la guerre comme a la guerre".

Meanwhile trade has not stopped. Somehow product is being delivered to China and all the necessary documents are produced. It means that whatever happens, people find ways out and the Russian government officers are able to produce temporary crisis solutions while a major one is being sorted out in the court, according to Russian Fish Insider Report published by http://www.megafishnet.com/

As said by Dmitry Dremluga (owner of Dalmoreproduct), one of the biggest saury operators in Russia, import of saury decreased in the second half of 2010, and in 2011 there is real shortage. The earthquake deteriorated the situation, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/