Russia's fishery research institutes facing vertical integration

In the near future the Russian State Fisheries Committee is planning to apply to the Federal Property Agency Rosimuschetsvo in order to merge Russia's fishery research establishments under FGUP VNIRO fishery research institute by means of incorporating all the industry's institutes under its umbrella, the Committee's head Andrey Krainy told B-Port.

Founded in 1933 Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) is the head research institute in the system of government organizations authorized to conduct studies, conservation, and reproduction of fish resources. The system also includes AzNIIRKH, AtlantNIRO, KamchatNIRO, CaspNIRKH, PINRO with its Northern Department, SakhNIRO, TINRO-Centre with its branches in Magadan, Khabarovsk, and Chukchi Peninsula.

According to the new guidelines of the revived State Fisheries Committee, the above mentioned institutes which have so far been working as independent federal unitary enterprises (FGUP as abridged from Russian) will be transformed into subsidiaries of VNIRO institute.

Towards that end, heads of those institutes are commissioned to take the inventory of their property as per 1 January 2008 and forward the corresponding reports to the State Fisheries Committee until 1 March 2008.

At the same time, the Committee's scientific and training department in cooperation with the departments of economic development, property relationship and law as well as the financing and accounting department is commissioned to develop a draft of the government's order on the above mentioned streamlining and send this draft to the corresponding federal executive bodies for consent in accordance with established procedure.