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Fish processing factories that are being built in Russia as part of investment quotas may come to grips with shortages of fish raw. Investors in such enterprises have an obligation to put out the products “from the catch of aquatic biological resources,” yet under the new legislation this phrase implies any processing of the raw.
Fish-processing factories, which are being built in Russia as part of the investment quotas plan, may not be fully loaded. Raw fish, which they will have to process under the terms of investment agreements, cannot be delivered in the required amounts due to technological and transport difficulties, the head of the All-Russian Association of Fishermen Hermann Zverev said in a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Kommensant daily learned. In total, 22 enterprises are being built in this country under investment agreements. Their total annual capacity will exceed 360 thousand tons of products. Building the factories are the Russian Industrial Company, Norebo and other major market operators.According to Zverev, at the time of signing, the investment agreements implied that the catch of aquatic bioresources, which should be sent for processing to new enterprises, would mean all the raw materials that are delivered by the fishery fleet. However, last year this concept was narrowed, as frozen, gutted and otherwise processed fish were crossed out of it. Zverev explains in this connection that the delivery of fresh unprocessed pollock to the factories is impossible, because its catch lasts about 4 months, and it is impossible to store unprocessed fish for such a long time aboard the ships.The head of the Association of Fishing Fleet Shipowners Alexei Osintsev indicates at the same time that fishing ships are technologically unable to transfer the catch to the shore: fresh fish is stored for up to eleven days in the cold season, and up to six days in the warm season. To fully load a ship to full capacity and return to the shore takes up to 27 days. In the wake of the situation, Zverev stresses that the shortage of fresh fish for new enterprises may come to150,000 tonnes out of the 360,000 thousand tonnes envisioned by the investment quotas plan.And if the plants that have received state support go over to the processing of frozen or gutted raw materials, they will automatically become violators of investment agreements. This will give grounds for cancellation of privileges granted to new enterprises, and investors will not only be unable to recoup their investments, but will also suffer losses of 6-7 billion rubles, market operators add. The way out of this situation will be getting the green light for the processing of dressed fish at new factories, Zverev says in conclusion.