As Russia imposes an import ban on fish products from Norway and other western countries, the Russian market looks towards alternative suppliers and domestic producers. As previously reported, the import ban could ultimately leave Russian shops without supplies and prices are likely to hike.
Norway alone in 2013 exported a total of 295,000 tons of fish products to Russia, 81 percent of it salmon. Over the last months, an average of 134 trucks loaded with fresh Norwegian salmon and trout has crossed the Russian border. That trade has now come to a stop, and several Norwegian trucks fully loaded with fish products have already been rejected entry to Russia.
Russian authorities consequently hectically look at ways how to vitalize supplies from domestic fish producers. Murmansk is a key part of that picture. The region has a powerful trawler fleet and a growing aquaculture industry. Despite years of crisis, the region also has a fish processing industry with substantial capacity. The nearby Barents Sea has some of the world’s richest marine resources and cod stocks have over the last years reached historical levels.
In 2013, the regional fisheries beat a post-Soviet catch record with 697,000 tons, an increase of 10,4 percent from the previous year. Also in 2012, the Murmansk fish catch increased significantly (21%). The good results come as catch quotas in the Barents Sea has been increased over a number of years. Figures from the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fishery Commission show that Russian cod quotas for 2014 amount to 431,735 tons, up from 187,500 tons in 2007. Similarly, haddock quotas has increased to 144,253 tons in 2014 from only 25,400 tons in year 2000, information from the Commission shows. It is this joint commission which sets the quota regulations for the Barents Sea based on scientific marine data from the two countries.
At the same time, aquaculture developments are picking pace in the region. As shown in figures from Patchwork Barents, Murmansk in 2012 produced almost 17,000 tons of farmed fish. That figures is expected to increase significanlty over the next year. Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun has on several occasions said that regional aquaculture production ultimately can be boosted to as much as 100,000 tons.
Murmansk does have the capacity to significantly increase its supplies to the Russian market. The region is the country’s third most powerful fishery region and accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s total catch.
However, like in other parts of the Russian agriculture industry, the fisheries are facing a major need for modernization and bureacratial hurdles from the authorities are abundant. As previously reported by BarentsObserver, paradoxically, as much as 80 percent of the region’s once powerful fish processing industry has lately been left without raw materials, and the processing companies in the region are all threatened by collapse.
One of the reasons from the situation is a federal law on fisheries which came into force in July 2013. That legislation allows the coastal fishing vessels to freeze their catch on board and to engage in ship-to-ship deliveries of products. The coastal fishing fleet subsequently stopped landing their catch to land-based reception and reprocessing plants.
Meanwhile, the Russian ocean trawler fleet in the Barents Sea has for many years landed a lion’s share of its catch in foreign ports.
Under increasing pressure from the authorities, and also attracted by higher domestic prices, the Russian fisheries could heighten their deliveries to the Russian market. However, such a turn will take time and will require both smoother Russian legislation and enhanced domestic processing capacities.
