Saturday, Sept. 15, 4:23 pm MSK

Russia launches International Year of Salmon

The opening ceremony for Russia's International Year of Salmon was held at the II Global Fishery Forum in St. Petersburg on Sept.15.

The initiative is part of the Commission for Anadromous Fishes of the North Pacific (NPAFC), and is supported by Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

It is also joined by the Intergovernmental Commission for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic (NASCO), as well as other regional organizations.

The International Year of Salmon will include a series of activities aimed at preserving global stocks of salmonid species.

In particular, it is planned to conduct scientific expeditions and other activities aimed at studying and preserving salmon through the end of 2019.

“In 2019, an international expedition will be held in the North Pacific to study wintering conditions and the survival of Pacific salmon in the marine period of their life”, Ilya Shestakov, head of Russia’s fishery agency, said at the opening ceremony.

Combating illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing and salmon harvest control will also be an important part of the project.

According to NPAFC data, harvesting of Pacific salmon has grown to almost 1 million metric tons.

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Friday, Sept. 14, 4:15 pm MSK

Major Russian retailer signs agreement with domestic whitefish giant

One of Russia's major retailers, Lenta Group of Companies, and whitefish giant FOR Holding signed an open-ended supply agreement.

FOR Group will directly supply fish to the retail network, for the first time ever.

The paper was signed by Pavel Balon, CEO of FOR Group, and Sergey Ermolaev, director of category management at Lenta Holding, at the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg.

Under the agreement, the fishing companies of the group will deliver herring, mackerel, redfish, cod and capelin from the Atlantic areas to Lenta Group.

“This is a very important event for us," said Petr Savchuk, deputy head of Russia’s fishery agency Rosrybolovstvo, at the signing ceremony.

“For the first time, such kind of agreement was signed by one of the largest domestic companies, involved in fishing and trading," he said. “I urge other fishing companies and trading players to follow this example, which will allow to decrease fish prices for end consumers."

Fish will be supplied to all cities where Lenta’s trading network is represented.

“We are interested in the maximum reduction of the supply chain between the fish catchers and the seller and aim to work directly with the fishermen," said Ermolaev. "This will allow us to expand the range of fish products in our stores, and provide the best seafood quality at affordable prices for our customers."

Lenta Holding is the largest hypermarket chain and the third largest retailer in Russia.

The holding has a trading network of 233 hypermarkets in 84 cities and 119 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Siberia, the Urals and central regions of Russia.

FOR is the largest fishing holding in the Russian North Fishery Basin, and includes five companies, operating 15 vessels, catching whitefish in the Atlantic areas.

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Friday, Sept. 14, 4:15 pm MSK

Russian shipyard lays keel for Arkhangelsk longliner-processor

A keel-laying ceremony of longliner-processor Marlin took place at the Saint-Petersburg-based Severnaya Verf shipyard today, as part of the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo.

It is the second vessel of this kind, Severnaya Verf is contracted to build for the Association of fishing collective farms of the Arkhangelsk region Globus.

The first vessel, named Gandvik-1 was ordered by the Karelian fishing company and laid on July 20.

The vessel model is a MT1112XL, designed by Norwegian company Marin Teknikk for sustainable fishing of cod and haddock in the Barents Sea.

The newbuild has an overall length of 58.6 meters, a width of 13 meters, a displacement of more than 2,000 metric tons and will be equipped with an onboard processing plant, with an overall production capacity amounting to 30 metric tons of fish per day.

Severnaya Verf is actively involved in projects as part of the Russia's massive fleet renewal.

According to Igor Ponomarev, CEO at Severnaya Verf, the shipyard is planning to lay the keel for a new trawler-processor for the Russia's Norebo Holding in November.

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Friday, Sept. 14, 2:02 pm MSK

Rosrybolovstvo: Driving value, not volume

Russia’s fishery agency is planning to significantly increase the value of the country’s seafood exports by shifting the focus on to the production of value-added fish products, Ilya Shestakov, head of the agency Rosrybolovstvo, said at the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg.

“Our task is to increase the financial performance of seafood exports, not its volume," Shestakov said.

According to Rosrybolovstvo, currently only 12 percent of products leave the country in value-added formats, while the rest (88 percent) is non-processed fish.

“Our calculations suggest that the value of seafood exports could increase between two and 2.5 times due to a massive renewal of the fishing fleet and onshore fish processing infrastructure”, Shestakov said.

Russia is carrying out a wide-scale investment program, which includes updating its aged fishing fleet and processing facilities.

The total value of the fishing quotas, which have already been allocated for this purpose is estimated at RUB 132 billion (€1.6 billion/$1.9 billion).

According to Rosrybolovstvo, Russia’s overall seafood exports exceeded 2 million metric tons last year.

“In 2018, we are expecting volumes of the country’s seafood exports will remain approximately at the same level as last year, but its value is expected to increase by around 15 percent," Shestakov said.

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Friday, Sept. 14, 12:02 pm MSK

All set for fishing boom

The official opening ceremony of the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo took place in St. Petersburg today.

In the welcoming speech, Russia’s Minister of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev said the renewal of the country’s fishing fleet and onshore fish processing infrastructure -- based on the State's investment quota program and a new fishing quota allocation for a 15-year period -- are among the main recent achievements in the Russian fishing industry.

According to Patrushev, the volume of the investment quotas is already estimated at RUB 132 billion (€1.6 billion/$1.9 billion), which will allow building of 33 new modern fishing vessels and 18 onshore fish processing plants during the next five years.

The main condition for the successful development of the Russian fishery industry, Patrushev said, is the international cooperation of leading fishing nations, which is aimed at meeting the challenges in the global fishery.

"Only joint efforts of all major fishery countries will solve problems such as overfishing and illegal catching to provide a sustainable fishery," Patrushev said.

Ilya Shestakov, head of Russia’s fishery agency Rosrybolovstvo, emphasized the forum's programs contribution to an open discussion about risks and opportunities for the growth of global fishing, the search for mutually beneficial solutions of problems, which exist both in the domestic and in the global fishery.

Opening ceremony at the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo Russia. Photo: Evgeny Vovchenko

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Friday, Sept. 14, 9:13 am MSK

Russia pollock catchers receive MSC certificate

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) CEO Rupert Howes was in Russia this week to hand over the new MSC certificate for the Russian trawl pollock fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk to Alexey Buglak, vice-president at Russia's Pollock Catcher Association (PCA).

The ceremony took place at the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg.

The Russian trawl pollock fishery in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk successfully passed through its MSC recertification at the end of August.

Click here to read the full story.

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Thursday, Sept. 13, 4:02 pm MSK

Russia getting its first fast-food seafood restaurant

Russia’s first fast-food seafood restaurant is scheduled to open Sept. 13 in conjunction with the II Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg.

Operating under the Russian Fish brand name, the restaurant will emulate the format of global fast food chains, reports the Tass news agency.

Click here to read the full story.

--IntraFish Media