USD 90 million fish plant nearing completion at Shikotan in the Russian Far East

A state-of-the art fish processing complex with the designed daily capacity of 1000 tonnes of raw material is nearing completion at the Island of Shikotan in the Russian Far East, according to Fishnews.

The building of the waste-free combine began in October 2017 with the commissioning scheduled for spring-summer 2019 as the project has reached 85% of completion.

Raw fish and final products

Sakhalin-based Gidrostroy Group has invested USD 90 million of its own funds into the complex. The complex will be furnished with several processing lines.

One will focus on mackerel and Pacific sardine with a daily capacity to reach 800 metric tons of raw fish. The project capacity of the second line for APO processing will amount to 100 tonnes per day. The lines will produce value added products including fillets.

Besides, the combine will be equipped to process cod, flounder and squid. It will also produce a wide range of canned fish.

For raw fish handling operations the company has already built a pontoon wharf. Besides, in 2017 Gidrostroy purchased two new ships.

In order to increase its fishing power, based on the new processing combine Gidrostroy Group is entitled to apply for extra capture quotas granted by the government subject to construction of fish processing plants in Russia.

Waste-free processing with added value

Fish catches, which are more deeply processed inside Russia, normally fetch higher prices when exported to other countries. And Gidrostroy is evidently going to get the best possible yield from its processing operations.

To comply with its strategy of setting up a waste-free fish processing chain, the Group is building a separate fishmeal plant with the production capacity of 25 metric tons of fishmeal and 8 tonnes of fishoil per day.

Meanwhile two more waste-free fish processing projects are being carried out in the South Kuriles by other Russian companies.

Premises and personnel

A three-storeyed 120x74m building, which has been already constructed by now, will host a machine room, a workshop, amenity space, repair rooms and a laboratory. The coldstore will be capable of storing 5,000 metric tons of products at a time. The project capacity of the combine’s diesel power plant is 8 megawatts.

The combine will work all the year round. The staff is supposed to amount to 200 people. For them and for the guests the investor will build a hostel for 118 people, a canteen and a hotel for 24 quests.