Putin says Russia must build its own modern, high-tech fishing trawlers
MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - Russia is obligated to build its own state-of-the-art, high-tech trawlers, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the State Council's presidium on Monday, adding that the situation with Russia's fishing fleet had become critical.
Creation of a fishing fleet "is definitely a key issue in development of the country's fishery complex," he said, noting that nearly 90% of the fishing fleet had outlived its service life.
"They are not only economically inefficient, they are hazardous to their crews," he said.
Russian fishing companies received 10-year fishing quotas in 2008, which gave market players a horizon for planning. However, that was not enough to solve the problem of renewing the fleet.
"The problem of renewing the fleet was just as acute eight years ago, when the 'historical principle' for distributing quotas was set down in law. There were many conversations about how this approach would stimulate the fishing industry to build new trawlers. These hopes proved unfounded," Putin said.
The situation with vessels will become "very acute" in the next 5-10 years. "Clearly, we are obligated to build our own state-of-the-art, high-tech trawlers ourselves. A host of companies in the fishing industry have already expressed willingness to join in resolving this task," he said.
