The Russian government has amended several fisheries-related regulations, including postponing for two years a vessel-construction requirement contained in its investment-quota program.
Russia has also abolished the mandatory conversion of revenue earned by exporters via foreign trade into rubles, and has allocated RUB 153 billion (USD 2.7 billion, EUR 2.5 billion) in direct aid to its agricultural and fisheries sectors to fortify them as they cope with the tightening financial vise of global sanctions put in place following the country’s February invasion of Ukraine.
Multiple rounds of economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, the U.K., and the U.S. have deeply impacted Russia’s seafood industry. The sanctions eliminated many of Russia’s biggest export markets and caused a shortage of aquafeed in Russia and a crisis situation at many of the country’s shipyards, which are largely dependent on foreign-supplied equipment and technology. Additionally, Russia’s domestic seafood market is in turmoil and one major Russian seafood company has already closed as a result of the challenging market conditions it faced.
In response, over the course of numerous meetings between Russian government officials and representatives of Russia’s seafood industry, including Russian Pollock Catchers Association (RPCA) President Alexei Buglak and All-Russian Association of Fisheries Enterprises (VARPE) President German Zverev, a slate of reform measures was put forward for consideration with the goal of easing operational pressures on the country’s seafood industry. Many of those changes were adopted by an order issued by the Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo) issued 29 April, 2022, and published 14 June.