The State Duma adopted a bill on the second stage of the investment quota program for pollock, herring and crab

The deputies of the State Duma immediately adopted in the second and third readings a bill on the second stage of the investment quota program. This was reported to Vedomosti in industry associations – the All-Russian Association of Fisheries Industry (VARPE) and the Association of Shipowners of the Fishing Fleet (ASRF).

The bill provides for the withdrawal and distribution at auction in 2023 of the rights to harvest 24% of the total allowable catch of pollock and herring in the Far East and 50% of crab. In the original version, it was also planned to put up for sale 100% of shellfish quotas, but later this type of resource was removed from the document.

On December 19, industry associations addressed an open letter to the State Duma deputies with a request to support the postponement of the start of the second stage of investment quotas to January 1, 2026. The appeal was signed by the leaders of the VARPE, the Pollack Fishers Association, the Kamchatka Salmon Catchers Association, the Union of Fishermen of the North, the Crab Catchers Association, the Magadan Association fish merchants, the Association of Fishery Enterprises of Primorye.

The adopted version of the bill differs from the one that was considered by the conciliation commission earlier, said German Zverev, president of the VARPE. In particular, the amendments proposed by senators and deputies to postpone until January 1, 2026 the launch of the program regarding the allocation of quotas for fish production for the construction of the fleet and crab auctions were not adopted.

The bill will make it possible to continue updating the fishing fleet, not to lose momentum and prevent a gap in the loading of shipyards, says the president of the ASRF (unites the structures of the Russian Fishery Company, Russian Crab and Norebo, supports the bill) Alexei Osintsev. According to him, taking into account the procedures for submitting and selecting applications, the shipyards will be able to start building fishing vessels on new orders in a year and a half to two years. By this time, slipways (ramps on the shore, along which ships or boats can move into and out of the water – Vedomosti) will be free from orders from the first stage, Osintsev is sure.