Fish will stay in Russia

From January 1, 2009, all fish and bioresources caught by Russian vessels in the Barents, Baltic and Black Seas will be delivered to the customs territory of Russia according to a Decree signed by RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on June 30.

Within the Fishing Law framework

According to the Decree, all fish and fish products caught outside Russia’s inland sea waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf should be delivered to the customs territory of Russia. Meanwhile, this fish and bioresources may be also delivered to Russian fish processing companies located outside the RF, the list of which is to be subject to state approval. The document covers the seas, where fishing is regulated by intergovernmental agreements with Russia hence the new procedure does not cover the Far East.

However, according to Aleksandr Saveljev, head of PR center of Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), another decree is to regulate documentation covering all fishing territories including the Far East.

"The Decree published today is only a part of regulations aimed at implementation of the Fishing Law according to which all fish caught within Russia’s exclusive economic zone from January 1, 2009 is subject to documentation within the RF customs territory," Saveljev said.

Official and illegal caught

The draft law is aimed first of all to fight poaching which is rampant today. According to Rosrybolovstvo, from the beginning of 2008, Russian fishing organizations caught 1.636 million tonnes of aquatic bioresources (a 59,000-tonnes growth against the level of the previous year). The Far East Basin accounts for the one sixth of the caught (255,000 tonnes) while the draft law does not cover this territory. As for the North Basin, it accounted for 179,000 tonnes. The lowest share falls on the Baltic Sea (22,600 tonnes), Azov-and-Black Sea Basin (10,000 tonnes) and Caspian Basin (5,500 tonnes). The use of quotes for aquatic bioresources was at the level of 205,000 tonnes (-30,000 tonnes year-on-year). As for the quotes for fishing in conventional districts and open part of the Global Ocean, their use amounted to 137,000 tonnes (-12,000 tonnes.

Meanwhile, annual volume of illegal fishing (poaching) in Russia makes some 1.3 million tonnes, which is almost a half of annual official caught.

Industry innovations

The intent to work out subordinate legislation in view of earlier amendments into the Law on Fishing and Preservation of Biological Resources was declared by Andrei Kraini, head of Rosrybolovstvo, as early as in late 2007. According to him, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski and Sakhalin are to have exchanges, where fishermen could sell their caught from storage facilities and directly from vessels. The document norms also provision sale of bioresources at the exchange, which is to account for 15-20% of bioresources. It is expected that trading without dealers to reduce fish prices by 20-40%. According to Mr. Kraini, the practice will help to exclude illegal agreements, which are quite frequent today. The method of sale (through exchange or by direct agreements) will be selected by the suppliers themselves. Branches of a fish exchange will spring up in five coastal regions across Russia — Murmansk, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad.

Apart from creation of a fish exchange, the industry is to undergo a number of other innovations this year. In particular, there is a plan to create a unified fishing register to get rid of rentier companies in fishing industry. Moreover, the number of supervisory organizations is to be cut in ports. Veterinary supervision is to be cut as well. It is supposed, that RosSelkhozNadzor will carry out on-site examination of fish at one of the vessels to declare this or that district available for fishing.