Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries is making plans for the renewal of the coastal fleet, preparing mechanisms for coastal fishing’s development by providing state support for regions where investment quotas are not applicable. This applies to coastal and freshwater regions where around 75% of resources are though to be under-utilised.
According to Federal Agency for Fisheries head Ilya Shestakov, the importance of constructing new coastal fishing vessels is increasing as quota levels are higher and there are areas where large vessels are not seen as effective.
‘The capacity of the fleet is increasingly becoming a bottleneck for advancing development. There is a need for renewal of the low-tonnage fleet in practically every region, including fresh water. According to our estimates, this is not less than 50-70 vessels,’ said Ilya Shestakov.
‘Unfortunately, within the first stage of the application campaign for investment letters, we received only four applications for the construction of a small fleet. At the same time, the balance of investment quotas in the Far East supports the construction of at least 30 vessels.’
Given the high urgency of the issue, the Agency intends to initiate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade a comprehensive joint programme to support the construction of a small-scale fishing fleet.
‘This work needs to take into account and understand the possibilities of small businesses in terms of developing vessel projects, attracting financing, maintaining the construction process and other complex issues,’ he said.
The new fleet is expected to increase catches of species for which there is no TAC.
‘We see a significant potential for increasing such fisheries,’ Ilya Shestakov said, commenting that the recommended overall catch for 2017 was 1.70 million tonnes, but the actual catch volume was 500,000 tonnes. Although this exceeded the 2016 figure by 50,000 tonnes, he commented that this is still unacceptably low with stocks remaining under-exploited.
He stated that science needs to work with the industry to establish recommended yields, to determine which stocks present fishing opportunities and to investigate their economic feasibility.
‘In instances of significant under-development due to the lack of a specialised fleet or production technologies, it is urgent to initiate work to eliminate such gaps. In particular, with the involvement of the Ministry of Industry and Trade it is necessary to provide for the construction of a specialised low and medium tonnage fleet that does not fall under the investment quotas programme. This is especially true for facilities with low profitability – the Caspian Sea, the Azov-Black Sea and Western basins. Such a programme should be urgently initiated,’ Ilya Shestakov said.
