Thailand Specialists watch over equipment installation at the Kuril fishmeal and fish oil plant via Internet

An unusual solution to the production problems caused by coronavirus has been found on one of Russia’s most remote islands, reports Megafishnet.com.

According to the Sakhalin Government, In Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Governor Valery Limarenko observed the construction of a high-tech fishmeal and fish oil plant. The Kunashir Island based Fishing Company, where an underwater fibre-optic link has recently been installed, has established a continuous webcast from the construction site. As a result, the equipment manufacturer monitors the installation work online.

The Kuril Islands are located in one of the richest areas of the world’s ocean. There are large stocks of high-value fisheries such as crabs, shrimp, molluscs, echinoderms. Large-scale fishing is done for pink salmon, chum salmon, pollock, cod, iwashi sardine, saury, soles.

“Kurils economy is based on fishing industry. At the same time, modern deep processing technologies are being introduced to the islands. High-value-added production brings multiple benefits. Profits increase, jobs are created. The deep processing of fish and seafood also benefits the environment by reducing waste, Valery Limarenko said.

On the island of Kunashir «Yuzhno-Kuril fish factory» with the support of «Sakhalin Region Development Corporation» started high-tech shop construction. New production is based on modern equipment produced in Thailand.

“The workshop will process waste from the main production - fins, bones, tailings and co-products, and will produce fishmeal and fish oil. The project is of great social importance. It will create 46 new jobs. This is significant for an area of almost 12,000 people”, Sakhalin Region government chairman Alexey Belik said.

This spring  the workshop was nearing completion. The building has large bunkers for feedstock, screw conveyors, as well as tanks and tanks for finished products. The time has come to install high-complexity equipment. Under the contract, representatives of the equipment manufacturer were to carry out the work. But with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, people movement between Russia and Thailand was stopped. Foreign specialists were unable to travel to the island.

An unusual solution was found.

“Under an agreement with Thai equipment manufacturer, we contracted a Russian company with experience in the installation of such equipment”, executive director of “Yuzhno-Kurilsk fish factory” Vitaliy Ustenko said.  “And the company started installation. Equipment manufacturers from Thailand monitor online installation. Our connection is excellent, the picture is transmitted without delay anywhere.”

“Installation is not proceeding as quickly as if our employees were on site,” equipment manufacturing company representative Sverre Golten said. “But Internet connectivity is absolutely necessary and the right solution to get our project to completion, even in the midst of a pandemic.”

The ability to broadcast high-quality images via the Internet from one of the most remote inhabited islands in Russia has become available only recently. In 2019, an underwater fibre-optic communication line was installed on the Kuril. The project implemented within the framework of the special federal programme «Socio-economic development of the Kuril Islands for 2016-2025» worth 3.3 billion rubles. Of this amount, 600 million was invested by the company «Rostelecom».

Annual output of workshop under construction on Kunashir Island - more than 8,000 tons. Out of it 5,000 tons is fismeal. The rest is fish oil.

For copyright please write to vera@megafishnet.com.