The Russian government is considering whether to give fishing companies an additional two years to meet the requirements of its crab quota investment auctions, as shipyards in the country continue to face long delays.
Russia first introduced the idea of tying access to fishery quotas to investment in new vessels or facilities in 2016 before approving the idea in 2017 and revealing the results of the first round of auctions in March 2018. Companies that signed on were given access to quota after promising to build a new vessel within five years – with the caveat that the vessels had to be built in Russian shipyards.
Problems began as early as 2020 as the companies in the country began to recognize that it did not have the capacity to build the number of vessels needed in time. Those delays were exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which kicked off international sanctions that forced it to reshape its fleet-renovation project.
Four years since the problems first started to surface, the delays have continued.
In a meeting on 17 July, Federation Council Committee on Agriculture, Food Policy, and Environmental Management First Deputy Chair Sergei Mitin said that of more than 100 vessels that were planned to be built during the first stage of auctions, so far only 27 have been completed, Fishnews reported.
In 2023, shipbuilders were supposed to deliver 20 new vessels but only delivered 10, and this year, 19 are supposed to be delivered, with seven having reached customers so far, according to Fishnews. The delays are occurring as Russia already carried out a second round of quota auctions containing similar requirements to the first, though the second program is smaller than the first and calls for only 23 crab vessels, four fishing vessels, and four refrigerated transport ships.
“Apparently, the problems of the first stage will smoothly transition into the problems of the second,” Mitin said, according to Fishnews.
Mitin added that of the 64 fishing vessels being planned ...
