After a month-long delivery trip from St Petersburg to Vladivostok, the Russian Fishery Company’s new trawler is starting its first fishing trip.
The 108-metre Mekanik Maslak is the third trawler built to an ST-192 design, and the second of this type to be built at a Russian shipyard. It is designed and outfitted to fish with pelagic gear for pollock and herring in the Sea of Okhotsk and the Berng Sea, as well as in waters closer to the Russian coast.
Mekanik Maslak’s arrival in Vladivostok was quite an occasion, and its reception was attended by a number of dignitaries, including head of the Federal Fisheries Agency Ilya Shestakov.
‘We are not only witnesses, but participants in the creation of the most modern fishing fleet in the world. I am sure that this vessel will perform well in the fishery in the harsh conditions of the Far Eastern seas,’ Ilya Shestakov said, commenting that fishing has become a well-paid profession and the modernisation of the industry is contributing still further to this.
The reception for Mekanik Maslak also served as an opportunity to showcase the new vessel’s technology to new entrants to the fishing industry.
‘Today, the Russian Fishery Company is one of the key employers in the Primorye region and pays particular attention to raising the profile of fishing as a profession. RFC works systematically with universities in the region to develop its own staff and, in general to improve the professional level of future fishing industry personnel. Our company provides a career perspective,’ said the company general director Olga Naumova in her remarks.
‘Mekanik Maslak is the second vessel in the series built at the Admiralty Shipyards under the investment quota initiative. The vessel has a high level of automation, we can produce fully processed products on board. Together with leading universities, we not only develop new competencies, but also plan to develop training for new professions.’
Mekanik Maslak, like the other vessels in the series already in operation, Vladimir Limanov and Kapitan Vdovichenko, has capacity to produce conventional frozen pollock and herring products, as well as surimi, fish oil and fish meal.
