New auctions for crab quota shares to be ffollowed by other valuable species
The second stage of crab quota auctions is likely to unroll in 2023. Other valuable species are also planned to be put up for auction with investment obligations, reports Megafishnet.com.
According to the head of the Federal Agency for Fishery (FAF) Ilya Shestakov quoted by Fishnews, the authorities continue to work on the issue of auctioning the remaining 50% of crab quotas with investment obligations. There is no ready-made solution yet, but there is already an understanding of the need for the second stage.
At the same time, the official announced plans to put quotas of other valuable seafood species up for auction with investment obligations the species possibly to include whelks, sea urchins, and scallops.
Ilya Shestakov noted that the authorities are not talking about all seafood, but only about highly profitable objects. The list of aquatic biological resources to be put up for auction is still to be clarified. However, 100% of the volumes can go to the auction.
In addition, it is discussed which investment projects can be created by the recipients of such resources, because the construction of a specialized fleet is not required for the above extra species.
The agency estimated possible federal budget revenues from bidding with investment obligations for new types of aquatic biological resources at 60 billion rubles.
For the remaining volumes of crabs, based on the experience of the first auctions, the proceeds could be about 140 billion rubles to make a total of about 200 billion rubles for all species put together (ca. $3 billion).
"At the same time, we also propose to start implementing the second stage of investment quota auctions in the Russian Far East, that is, to allocate another 20% for the construction of ships, fish processing plants and logistics refrigeration infrastructure in fish ports," Ilya Shestakov said. It is planned to launch the second wave for the fleet from 2023, for the factories and infrastructure-from 2022.