The Ministry of Agriculture assessed the volume of construction of the fishing fleet

The volume of construction of the fishing fleet was discussed at the meeting of “Incident No. 42” “Fishing Vessels”, which was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, a source close to the government told Vedomosti.

According to another source, the meeting on October 18 was also attended by the head of Rosrybolovstvo Ilya Shestakov, general director USC Andrey Puchkov, representatives of the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, shipbuilding and fishing enterprises.

The press service of Rosrybolovstvo explained to Vedomosti that taking into account COVID-19 and sanctions imposed by unfriendly countries, the deadline for the construction of ships has increased from six to eight years. “To date, construction of 20 vessels has been completed and handed over to customers. By the end of the year, it is expected that four more new vessels will be delivered,” explained the department’s press service.

At the meeting, Patrushev noted that work had previously begun with 11 ships built. “We have handed over nine more in the process, including one crab catcher just a couple of weeks ago. Total – 20 ships. However, this is not even half of the amount that should be ready by today,” Vedomosti’s interlocutor reports the words of Patrushev.

On September 27, at the International Fisheries Forum, he spoke about 19 completed vessels. “Our common task is to complete everything planned within the first stage [инвестквот] court. We are interacting on this issue with both shipyards and investors. When the entire volume of ships built as part of the first stage is introduced, the fleet of the Far East will be renewed by 40%, and in the north – by 80%,” the minister noted.

According to the source, the minister drew the attention of shipyards and investors to the need to comply with their obligations. The shipyard will soon receive new orders for fishing vessels (about 30) and crab catchers (31), adds Vedomosti’s source close to the government.

Rosrybolovstvo added that, as part of government measures to develop and introduce into serial production of ship components, preliminary designs for at least 40 types of equipment must be created. The department expects that over the next two years – 2024 and 2025. – they will allow the majority of ships to be completed.

According to Vedomosti’s interlocutor, at the meeting Patrushev also noted that, as part of the second stage of the investment quota mechanism, applications are being accepted for aquatic biological resources. In addition, Roslybolovstvo held auctions for the sale of rights to catch crab for 15 years.

Rosrybolovstvo expects that within six months the winning bidders will enter into contracts with shipyards for the construction of new crab catchers and infrastructure facilities, Shestakov said earlier (his words leads press service).

The investment quota mechanism was launched by the government in 2017 and made it possible to attract additional investment into the industry. Quotas for the extraction of biological resources are provided to enterprises that build new fishing vessels and factories. The first agreements with investors were concluded in 2018. Investment projects are selected by a special commission of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.

As part of the first stage of investment quotas, 105 ships and 27 fish processing plants were to be built, and within the second stage – about 45 more ships. “Now, a total of 19 vessels have been delivered – eight crab catchers and 11 fishing vessels,” said Shestakov (quote according to TASS) at the VI International Fishery Forum.