BarentsNews.com

Main problems of the North-West Russia’s fishing industry were discussed at the press conference given on September 6, 2002, by Vadim Sokolov, Deputy Chairman of the Murmansk regional Fisheries Committee and Gennady Stepakhno, Director of Association of the North Fishing Enterprises.

Among the most acute problems facing Russian fish industry today is the one related to selling of marine biological resources on auctions. Fishermen are fed up with trying to make the governmental officials see that the auction system affects the whole sector, and is especially harmful for regional economies. Quotas are principally bought by large capital-owners that have nothing to do with fishery, making the fishermen a cheap labour force for Moscow dealers.

Apart from that, the quota auction system is too tough in financial terms for economies of the regions. While the annual tax revenues and other budget payments made by Murmansk region’s fishing enterprises totally amount to 400 million roubles (appr. $ 12,8 million), had local fish-catchers to pay immediately over 1 billion roubles (around $ 33 million) for the quotas bought at recent auctions. No wonder that Moscow officials refuse point-blank to cancel the profit-making auctions.

At the press conference, the speakers also expressed their concern about the Russian fishery management which has become filled up with outsiders. The lack of professionalism among top fishing executives is simply astounding. They can offer a shrimp quota for sale at an extortionate price, not even taking into consideration that shrimp fishery in the Barents sea has not been profitable for the last years and hardly anyone would like to fish shrimps today.

Hoping to make the situation better, the Northern fishermen decided to arrange the Second All-Russian Conference on Fishery. 41 delegates have already been selected to represent the Murmansk region at the conference. At the same time, there isn’t too much optimism among the local fishermen in connection with this forthcoming event. Last time, when the first fishery meeting was convened, the state government’s officials did all but ignore the event completely. So, the participants had nothing to do but to share their concerns and proposals with each other. It is pretty unlikely that such communication would bring any positive changes into the sector.

However, we have a chance to see what the second attempt will be like. The Second Fishery Conference is planned to take place in Moscow, on October 23-34, 2002. Maybe this time the state authorities will pay more attention to the problems of the fishing industry?