Vityaz-Avto adding pollock to its MSC-certified fisheries

Vityaz-Auto LLC, operating numerous small seiners and land-based factories with daily capacity in excess of 1200MT, has got its Danish seine pollock fishery in Western Kamchatka certified for compliance with the requirements of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This will be instrumental in boosting value-added sales at export markets, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to Fishnews, the certificate applies to the Danish seine fishery in the West Kamchatka and Kamchatka-Kuril subzones.

"These are fishing areas where we have a full cycle from catch to manufacture of finished products," commented CEO Alex Ramanauskas. The company does the processing of chilled catch at its modern onshore factories in the village of Ustyevoye and the village of Ozernovsky on the west coast. "In principle, at these enterprises we are able to process the entire volume of pollock that we have in these subzones," said the head of the company.

Vityaz-Auto LLC became one of the first in Russia to certify its salmon fishery according to the standards of the Marine Stewardship Council. Now the procedure is completed for pollock. This should strengthen the position of the Russian value-added processor in markets of Europe, Asia, and America.

The situation with Covid-linked restrictions of raw material exports to China, on the one hand, has created difficulties for Russian producers. On the other hand, it is an opportunity to capture part of the niches that were previously occupied by Chinese companies for the export of products with a high degree of processing. "This is a pretty good chance to implement these plans," said Alex Ramanauskas.