Russian govt to continue overseeing construction of fishing fleet, matters moving forward - deputy PM

MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - The Russian government will continue to oversee the construction of the fishing fleet, as the process is yielding tangible results, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said on Friday at the Global Fishery Forum & Seafood Expo in St. Petersburg.

"Government-level oversight of vessel construction will continue. All plans must be fulfilled," Patrushev said.

A modern fishing fleet is currently being built in Russia under the investment quota program.

"Thanks to systematic oversight by the government task force, we have achieved significant momentum in the handover of vessels from shipyards to customers over the past three years. If you recall, we started with 11 projects in 2023, whereas the construction of 58 vessels has now been completed. Another 64 are currently under construction," Patrushev said.

Patrushev also said that there was some skepticism when the task force first began integrating all the various processes.

"However, as you can see, matters are moving forward," he remarked.

Patrushev said that the new fleet is highly valued by industry professionals.

"What is particularly important is that the new fleet delivers measurable production results. A single large vessel is capable of processing up to 60,000 tonnes of fish at sea annually. This, in turn, gives us the opportunity not only to increase catch volumes but also to boost the output of high-value-added products," Patrushev said.

The investment quota program, under which companies are granted fishing quotas in exchange for building fishing vessels and processing plants, has been in place in Russia since 2017. The first phase ran from 2017 to 2022, and the second phase began in 2023, which entails the construction of not only vessels and onshore processing plants, but also logistics infrastructure facilities.