Aquaculture to be transferred from Ministry of Agriculture to Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency
Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency and the nation's Ministry of Agriculture have agreed that the Agency will take over supervision of aquaculture in the inshore zone of the Russian territorial waters, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to IA REGNUM.
The Agency's head Andrey Krainy says that now his department is working at the draft of the respective law. The first reading of the aquaculture draft in the Lower House (State Duma) is expected to take place in some three months. Emergence of such law is to encourage construction of aquaculture facilities, which will be engaged in culture of such traditional species as trout, mussels, cod, sea scallops, etc. These new facilities are forecasted to create jobs for 80,000 residents of Sakhalin and other fishery regions of Russia. Before the end of the year the Agency is planning to see the legislative mechanism finalized to facilitate establishment of aquaculture companies, Krainy said. The Agency has got experience of working in this direction, and the market shows a strong demand for such products.
The rough variant of the draft law contains a provision enabling to transfer inshore water sites fit for aquaculture into concessions for a period of 20-30 years with the control powers remaining with the state. Krainy thinks that such scheme of aquaculture organization will encourage more investments into the sector's development.
As for the current situation in the industry, Andrey Krainy says that in a crisis, when many sectors of the Russian economy demonstrate recession, the fishery industry shows a serious rise. In January-February 2009 the catch grew by 22% as compared to the same period of last year. Now it is time for development and restoration of lost positions on the domestic market and entry to the foreign markets. At the same time, Krainy has complained that nearly all system forming banks, except for Rosselkhozbank which has received the state support, have suspended issue of credits to fish businesses. In the meantime, the need in financial resources currently amounts to 22 billion RUB. The Agency's head is sure that the banks which have received the state support (along with Rosselkhozbank the support has been given to VTB, VEB, Sberbank and Gazprombank) should resume issuing credits to the industry. Now the process is hampered by the fact that the banks won't accept capture quota shares and fishing boats as secure collaterals.