According to preliminary estimates, order portfolio under phase 2 of investment quotas programme exceeds 70 fishing ships including up to 35 crab catchers, Primorsky Territory Governor Oleg Kozhemyako told Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry wrote in its official Telegram channel.
The Governor told about implementation of the programme Phase 1 at the regional shipyards. 14 crab catchers are under construction at Nakhodka Shipyard and Vostochnaya Shipyard. Two of them have already been delivered to the customer, three – launched. According to the Governor, production facilities of Primorye shipyards allow for keel-laying of 30 to 40 ships within five years.
After a period of almost 40 years when Russian shipyards built no fishing ships or crab catchers, the year of 2016 marked the beginning of orders inflow due to transition to the auction based principle of allocating quotas in the fishing industry. The reform foresees that the market players should have their ships built in the Russian Federation to obtain a quota for bioresources.
16 shipyards across the country, from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka, are implementing the so called ‘keel quota’ programme. As Rosrybolovstvo (Russian Federal Fisheries Agency) said in October 2022, 105 modern fishing ships would be built under the programme on granting fishing quotas in return for investments. This number includes 64 fishing ships (7 ships have been delivered) and 41 crab catchers (3 ships delivered). The Agency said the construction of 5 more fishing ships and 2 crab catchers can be completed by the end of the year.
In May 2022, RF Government published the Decree on introduction of amendments into the mechanism of allocating quotas for production of aquatic bioresources to allow extension of the construction period from five to seven years so that to ensure implementation of shipbuilding contracts under the pressure of sanctions.
On 27 October 2022, the State Duma approved the draft law on phase 2 of investment quotas programme in the first reading.