Russian fishery head to lead Murmansk Fish Port out of crisis

The newly appointed Russian fishery head Andrey Krainy has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Murmansk Marine Fish Port known to have been struggling with poor landings in the last few years, according to reports from the area.

At the ensuing meeting of the Board of Directors the participants discussed possible measures to lead the port out of crisis. One of the priorities is to encourage Murmansk fishermen to land their catches in the home port rather than in the neighboring Norway. Towards that end the government will be working at a smoother and more coordinated operation of the control bodies such as customs, veterinary, sanitary, frontier and other services. Currently those organizations are blamed for causing delays of trawlers' landings at the Russian ports where they spend three or four days for clearance and control procedures. In the meantime, in Norway all the checks of the trawlers normally take three or four hours.

Andrey Krainy says that such quick clearance should also become typical for the Russian ports. The fishery industry head has however dismissed the fishermen's claims as regards poor availability of refrigerated railway stock allegedly causing all the cold stores of Murmansk Marine Fish Port overflow with frozen fish inventory. According to Krainy, the railways are in a position to provide all the necessary services and it is the fault of the fishermen who have failed to make the necessary contracts.