“More than 70% of Russian aquatic biological resources are extracted in the Far Eastern Federal District, and despite certain difficulties due to the sanctions policy of unfriendly countries, domestic biological resources have not ceased to be in demand both on the domestic market and among importing countries. On behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, a mechanism has been developed and implemented for granting quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources in exchange for investments. Thanks to this mechanism of non-financial state support, agreements were concluded for the construction of 64 fishing vessels, 41 crab-fishing vessels and 27 fish processing plants. The volume of investments under contracts for the construction of such subjects amounted to over 293 billion rubles (about 205 billion for the construction of fishing vessels, 26.4 billion for the construction of fish processing plants and 62 billion rubles for the construction of crab fishing vessels). Seven fishing vessels, four crabs and 25 factories have already been put into operation. Revenues to the budget of the Russian Federation amounted to 145 billion rubles. The decision taken by the President led to systemic changes in the fishing industry,”- said Yuri Trutnev at the opening of the meeting.
Measures were considered to stimulate the construction of fishing vessels at shipyards located in the Far East, including the provision of state support measures for these shipyards.
At the first stage, the size of the subsidy for the reimbursement of the costs of building crab fishing vessels at shipbuilding enterprises of the Far East is up to 20% of the cost of the order. As Aleksey Chekunkov, Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, recalled, this subsidy was brought up only after the conclusion of contracts for the construction of ships. “The subsidy has not fulfilled its stimulating function for concluding contracts with Far Eastern shipyards. In 2021, its volume amounted to only 240 million rubles. The volume of investments in the Far East amounted to only about 15% of the total investment in the first stage of investment quotas. This is at least unfair, given that the main resource for investment purposes is distributed precisely fr om the Far Eastern fishery basin. And within the framework of the announced second stage of the investment quota mechanism, the investment balance must be observed categorically,” he noted.
The head of the Ministry for the Development of the Far East of Russia proposed in the regulatory legal acts of the Government of the Russian Federation (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 648 “On fixing and providing a share of the quota” and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 633 “On requirements for investment objects”) within the framework of the second stage of investment quotas to fix the requirement “you build there, wh ere you fish”, so that fishing vessels for fishing in the Far Eastern fishery basin were built at the shipbuilding enterprises of the Far Eastern Federal District.
