Mikhail Ivanik, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo), told the International Fishery Congress currently taking place in Vladivostok that the fishing sector needs to make the transition to electronic logging and remote licensing.
He commented that innovation in the fishing sector will lead to more effective use resources, while increasing the volume of catches and processing. He stated that there is a need for Russian research vessels to be replaced with high-tech tonnage capable of improving scientific knowledge
‘As a country with a fishing fleet, we have an interest in global monitoring of ocean resources as part of organising the distribution of fishing effort,’ he said.
‘In general terms, the scope of changes in biomass of the main fisheries is already known. What is needed is the detail into the timeframes and scale of such fluctuations.’
He said that electronic logbooks and electronic certification will play a part in improving support for fisheries and systems for controlling production, adding that a draft federal law is under negotiation and this will deal with electronic logbooks and issuing of licences, and a twelve month transitional period is anticipated from the date of its coming into force.
This electronic licensing software is already being tested on a number of vessels, with more than twenty companies taking part in testing.
Mikhail Ivanik sid that the transition to electronic logging will remove some administrative barriers in logging catches, and will also allow licences to be issued remotely, while the establishment of an information portal on sectoral monitoring is being prepared to make it possible for data on ocean resources to be shared effectively.
