Russia

This marks a notebale revival in the nation's fishing industry that has fallen by the wayside in the past decade because of a serious lack of investment and more importantly a continuous fight against a turbulent Russian economy.

Russia wants to take several steps to increase the competitiveness of the domestic fishing industry in light of the country's impending entry into the World Trade Organisation.

Landings fall

But there is a lot of work to do. Earlier in the year it was reported that Russia has witnessed a year-on-year drop in catch volumes which is mainly due to intensive fishing of many key species including cod, haddock, herring and crab. Russia caught 3.67 million tonnes of fish and seafood in 2001 which was down 9.1% from 2000.

There are currently around 2,500 vessels fishing in Russia's EEZ, which is considered 50% more than acceptable if the country wants to have a sustainable fishery.

The main task for Russia's State Fisheries Committee (Goskomrybolovstvo) is to improve the efficiency of the fish harvest on Russia's continental shelf.

But many of the vessels that fish there are out of date and the country hopes that the new vessel building programme will move the industry in line with the rest of Europe in terms of effective equipment and fishing techniques as well as quality issues. Research in Russia last year concluded that among food products, it was those from fish that quite often did not meet safety requirements.

It has been estimated that Russia also loses around USD 500 million a year through illegal fish exports in the Far East. Japan has been working with Russia to to try and crack down on poachers in Russia's EEZ. Russia is still lacking information on illegally harvesting fish being landed in South Korea or China and needs this information before it can really act.

Despite this, reports issued last month by Russian Far East customs officials, announced an increase in foreign trade and a successful cooperation with Japan in curbing fishing by Russian boats.

Viktor Vuglyar, chief of the Far Eastern department of the State Customs Committee praised the growing co-operation with Japan in stopping Russian fishing poachers, who had in the past sold their catch in nearby Japan or South Korea.

It has also reported recently that the Russian fishing industry was suffering from a lack of modern financial systems and the fact that the West had a poor understanding of how Russian society works in order to develop trade and cooperation.

The financial system in Russia in the past has lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in fish processing because Russian vessels have been landing large volumes of fish to western countries.

Taxes

This is mainly because the vessels were either built or modernised in the West and thy have to avoid any of the Russian ports where they would face an import tax amounting to a 25% VAT and investment fee.

Another problem is caused by the lack of legislation in Russia meaning that lenders have poor security over the loans they issue. In turn it is very difficult to obtain loans and interest charges can range from 60 to 80%.

But despite its problems the industry is certainly not beyond repair. Export sales in the past few years have been strong. Russia exported around two million tonnes of fish and seafood in 2001 which is a rise of 16.9% year-on-year.

Russia's fish farms will raise and release more than 6.2 billion of fry of different species of commercially valuable fish during 2002. According to reports from Russia, more than 101 million sturgeon stellate sturgeon and beluga will be released into the Caspian and Sea of Azov this year. The fish farms will raise 638 million humpbacked, chum and sockeye salmon fry as well as other species in the next year.

Tuna fishing

Tuna experts in the Far East have also reported that Russia are set to return to tuna fishing even though it has spent the last few years selling its tuna purse seine fleets.

Initially five new vessels have been ordered including three purse seiners and two longliners. Two of the purse seiners are due to fish in the deep sea while the others will fish both in Russia's own EEZ and in other nations.

This is part of an overall plan to increase catches in fishing waters of other countries and double the 2001 catch figures.

International agreements permit Russia to catch up to five million tonnes of fish and other marine resources each year outside of its waters.

Intergovernmental agreements have been made with Mozambique, Sierra-Leone, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mauritania and Morroco. Quotas have also been secured in North Korean waters.

It is also expected that Russia and the European Union will sign an agreement. on the use of sea bioresources in September.

But Russia is unhappy at certain restrictions on the proposed agreements.

The country says the agreement should protect Russian interests and it will not sign anything under pressure.

Its State Fisheries Committee has also recently announced that it will act as the licensing agency for Russia's fish stocks. The Russian Cabinet has recently passed guidelines on the licensing of acceptance at sea of harvested biological resources, which of cause includes fish.

This new ordinance outlines the licensing procedure, the time frame when the license is valid, conditions of the license and and a list of documents submitted by the applicant for obtaining a license. Licenses will mostly be issued for five years.

As World Fishing went to press, The European Commission and the Russian Federation had held first round of negotiations on drawing up a fisheries agreement.

The two parties held a setting-out meeting in Brussels on 24 and 25 July where the 'importance both attached to achieving a mutually satisfactory outcome' was underlined, according to FIS.

Both parties set out their respective positions and expectations and it was concluded that the fisheries agreement should be based on three key aspects:

Co-operation between the EU and Russia in fisheries matters such as scientific research;

Fishing possibilities for EU vessels in the Russian economic exclusive zone;

Mechanisms to harmonise customs tariffs in the trading of fisheries products on a reciprocal basis.

The agreement will also allow for the incorporation of the existing bilateral fisheries agreements between Finland and Sweden and Russia into an EU fisheries agreement.

The next meeting between the two parties will take place in the autumn and will e preceded by technical meetings.

It is a fact that everyone in the fishing industry is talking about Russia.

Most of the large manufacturers and suppliers see Russia as a potential market ,because of the simply fact that it has announced its willingness to improve its industry and renew its fleet although many are unsure whether to conduct business in a country where the economy has in the past been so turbulent.

This aside, if Russia manages to produce the 28 vessels it has promised to build in 2002, then some of those companies might stand up and take notice.

If Russia does succeed in re-building its fishing industry then it could attract a whole range of investment from Europe and other parts of the world. By 2015, it could be a major force in fishing.