The head of the Federal Fisheries Agency informed about the losses of the shipyard at 42 billion rubles

Russian shipyards suffered losses of almost 42 billion rubles due to the construction of 64 fishing vessels and 41 crab fishing vessels. As the head of the Federal Fisheries Agency, Ilya Shestakov, told RBC, the construction of these units began in 2018, and in five years only 14 of them were handed over to customers.

Of the remaining vessels, 37 crabs will be completed no later than 2027, but there are “serious problems” with the fishing vessels, Shestakov admitted.

“The difficulties were related to the lack of necessary competences at the initial stage of the program in shipyards, which had difficulties in building a fishing fleet for commercial orders in a short time and at a fixed price,” he explained. According to him, contractual obligations with fishermen “were badly worded and miscalculated”. However, some fishermen go to the shipyard and agree to change the cost or extend the construction time.

In 2015, a state program was proposed to modernize the fishing fleet, develop fish processing enterprises and coastal infrastructure. “We gave fishermen quotas in exchange for compensating for the cost of building ships for them in Russia and loading domestic shipyards,” Shestakov explained.

• The first stage started in 2017. At that time, companies were allocated 20% of the total allowable catch of herring and pollock as part of the obligation to build new fishing vessels and processing plants. Two years later, similar crab auctions were held in Russia: 50% of the crab quota was put up for auction.
• The second stage is planned for 2023. It will distribute 20% of pollock and herring catches in the Far East and the remaining 50% of crab catches.

The program was also aimed at solving the problem of aging employees in the fleet and attracting new staff to the industry. “Working in the fields is hard work. Fishermen go to sea for three months or more, and living conditions on old ships are, to put it mildly, not very comfortable. It is obvious that young specialists after graduation are unlikely to choose such a profession,” notes Shestakov. Currently, around 70% of fishing crews are over 50 years old and fishing companies need new employees.