Russia expected to see second highest salmon catch ever in 2023 - Federal Fisheries Agency

MOSCOW. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Russian fishers might catch up to 600,000 tonnes of Pacific Ocean salmon this year, which would be the second highest figure ever for this valuable fish after the record catch of 676,000 tonnes in 2018, the head of the Federal Fisheries Agency, Ilya Shestakov said at a meeting held by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

"The salmon fishing season is going well. According to the latest data, as of yesterday the total catch already reached 528,000 tonnes, which is three times more than in 2022. This will be the second highest salmon catch on record. In 2018 we caught 676,000 tonnes, this year our forecast is around 600,000 tonnes," Shestakov said.

However, he also noted that the higher catch will increase the burden on transport and logistics infrastructure.

"Every year during the fishing season we see an increase in prices for fish shipments from the Far East to other regions of Russia. There are a number of factors that influence this cost growth, it is both rates at ports and the seasonal increase of rolling stock operators' prices," Shestakov said.

"We have asked the [Federal Antimonopoly Service] to analyse the formation of the cost of railway transport and marine transport services, including the dynamic before and during the salmon fishing season in the Far East. It seems to us that there is a possibility there to even out the cost of delivery at such peak times," Shestakov said.

Kamchatka Territory Governor Vladimir Solodov said at the meeting that rates for shipping salmon from the peninsula to Moscow have surged 40-45% this year. "We support the proposal to check the justifiability of prices for transportation," he said.

Recalling that there is a program to subsidize railway shipments of socially important types of fish products, Shestakov said it needs to be expanded to pink salmon.

"At this point this program applies to Alaska pollock products. We are already seeing the result - in a year the amount of pollock shipments to the central part of Russia doubled. We propose to expand this measure to pink salmon as well. This is the most mass market type of Pacific Ocean salmon, inexpensive," Shestakov said, adding that 460,000 tonnes of this type of salmon has already been caught.

Furthermore, pink salmon products are aimed at the domestic market, he said. "We believe that subsidizing [railway] rates will make it even more affordable and make it possible to provide work for processing plants in other regions," Shestakov said.

Russian Railways (RZD) told Interfax that its rate for use of railway infrastructure accounts for less than 5% of the cost of one kilogram of fish products on average. "RZD's rate has not changed in 2023," the company added.

The overall cost of shipping fish products includes RZD's rate for shipment, the cost of providing the rolling stock of operators, and the cost of terminal, forwarding and other services, the company said.

"The cost of providing rolling stock for shipping fish is determined by private company owners on market principles and its dynamic is seasonal in nature. Specifically, the increase in prices for provision of refrigerated containers for shipping fish products from the Far East is due to the unevenness of freight delivery in the course of the year. When the volume of shipped freight decreases, as a rule in the first half of the year, the price for providing rolling stock falls," RZD said.