Leading fish producers and processors have called on the Russian government to provide support this year, to help them to avoid massive losses due to COVID-19 and any possible suspension of catching activity, reports Eugene Gerden.
Producers have stated that the introduction of quarantine measures by the Russian government poses a serious threat to the fishing season in the Sea of Okhotsk, a centre of pollock production. The industry standpoint is that this could lead to large-scale underfishing, which in the case of pollock alone could amount to 250,000 tonnes in volume and US$350 million in value terms for the Far East fishing sector.
The situation in the northern region is even more complex, as most trawlers operating in this area can not enter foreign ports to change their crews or discharge, due to quarantine restrictions.
The processing sector has already asked the government to ease the existing counter sanctions regime, imposed in 2015, which led to the restriction of fish imports to Russia. According to processors, the introduction of counter sanctions resulted in a shortage of fish on the Russian market and forced processors to raise prices for their products.
According to Herman Zverev, head of the All-Russian Association of Fish Producers (VARPE), there is a need to lift the requirement for Russian fishing vessels entering or entering the EEZ to pass checkpoints, as this places additional costs on them in the region of RUB 14.2 billion annually.
VARPE also requests the dropping of deadlines for the construction of new tonnage under the investment quotas programme under which Russian shipyards have contracts to deliver 43 new vessels by the end of 2025. Currently, any failures to meet delivery dates may lead to fines and the suspension of quotas.
