Average age of fishing ships built by foreign shipyards and operating in Russia is 31 years. One third of Russia’s fishing ships built abroad are 31 to 35 years old, according to the All-Russia Association of Fishing Industry (VARPE).
According to the industry-focused monitoring system, there are 744 fishing ships of foreign origin in Russia – they make over a half of the country’s fishing fleet. 431 midsize fishing ships make the bulk of that figure.
Over the recent decade, foreign shipyards built 32 fishing ships for Russian companies with more than 60% built over the recent 5 years. Among them are super trawlers of Okeanrybflot – Vladimir Biryukov and Georgy Meshcheryakov which are able to replace 5 freezing trawlers of the Pulkovo Meridian type.
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 and 41 crab catchers.
In late December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Phase 2 of investment quotas and crab auctions with investment obligations. According to preliminary estimates, order portfolio under phase 2 of investment quotas programme exceeds 70 fishing ships including up to 35 crab catchers.
Rosrybolovstvo (Russian Federal Fisheries Agency) earlier said that implementation of the two phases of the programme would decrease the age of Russia’s fishing fleet from 35 to 9 years.