Russia's fishing investment quotas allow constructing 29 vessels - Deputy PM Patrushev

MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - Russia's currently operating investment quota plan in the fishing and aquatic bio-resources industry has allowed commissioning 29 vessels in the relevant sector, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev's press service quoted him as saying at the launch ceremony of the new "Capitan Yunak" fishing super trawler at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

"The super trawler was built at the Admiralty Shipyards as part of the investment quota plan. This mechanism allows modernizing the fishing fleet, as well as improving labor productivity and environmental friendliness, and efficiently developing bio-resources. Owing to the investment quotas, 29 vessels have already gone to sea to date, and five more will be launched by the end of this year," Patrushev said.

Patrushev also emphasized that the plans are considerably more ambitious. "In general, our key task is to upgrade the Russian fishing fleet almost completely," he said.

The Russian government announced the program for fishing investment quotas in 2016, and it came into effect in 2018. Anglers receive quotas for fishing under investment obligations to build vessels and processing plants. Over 100 vessels are currently under construction, including 41 crabbing vessels, as part of the first stage that has been extended until 2026.

The second stage of investment quotas involves constructing up to 30 fishing vessels, up to 35 crabbing vessels, about eight modern fish-processing plants, as well as implementing a number of other projects to create a modern fishing industry.

Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) head Ilya Shestakov earlier at the Eastern Economic Forum said that the mechanism of investment quotas allowed attracting 270 billion rubles to the industry, including more than 200 billion rubles to the Far East.