BarentsNews.com

Vadim Sokolov, deputy chairman of the Murmansk region’s Fisheries Committee, has commented upon the industrial quotas for catching shrimp and scallop to be offered at the September 27th auction.

That’s what Mr Sokolov said: “Two Murmansk fishing companies are currently working with Icelandic scallop. These two have spent as much money as they could afford to acquire the quotas. As far as I know, these companies are not planning to buy any more scallop quotas this year, while others simply have no special scallop-catching vessels available.

As for shrimp quotas put up for auctions, in my opinion, it proves again the lack of professional knowledge and experience among top fishing executives.

These officials are obviously unaware of the fact that most fishing enterprises are not willing today to fish shrimp for economic reasons, and the large shrimp stock available in the North basin remains unutilized even with the quotas obtained free.

The Northern shrimp is small-sized and consequently cheap: it costs around USD 450-500 per tonne. Given that a vessel can get up to 3 tonnes a day maximum, while the operational costs amount to USD 4 000-5 000 a day, it is clear that shrimp fishing is initially unprofitable, and no one is going to buy any shrimp quotas at the auctions.”