The activities of Russian fishing companies in the near future may seriously be complicated. The transport Ministry plans to oblige market participants to obtain permission for an overload of ship supplies outside of water areas in ports. The initiative will result in downtime of the courts, which threatens the loss of up to 8 billion rubles per year and will have a negative impact on profitability in the fishery and price of products, warn the fishermen.The Ministry of transport has developed a package of amendments to the merchant shipping Code and Code on administrative offences, changing the exercise of the overload from ship to ship outside the seaports. Copies of the draft documents have “b”. As explained “Kommersant” the President of the Russian organizations of fishermen (VARPE) Herman Zverev, after the adoption of the amendments for each overload of ship supplies (fuel, packaging, fishing gear, etc.) market participants will be required to obtain a permit or return the ship to the seaport.For obtaining a permit captains of vessels are required no later than 48 hours before the Overdrive to direct in the port statement and all the necessary information. About the end overload will also need to notify the port captain. While the procedure itself is in the fishing area will be possible only in the presence of inspector of the guards. For violation of the new requirements provided for fines of up to RUB 1 million with a possible confiscation of vessels. Amendments were submitted to the Ministry of economy, Ministry of agriculture, Ministry of energy, Ministry of environment, the Ministry of justice and the FSB.Additional administrative burden will lead to serious financial losses and downtime for the fleet, confident in VARPE. According to Mr. Zverev, Putin herring and Alaska Pollock in the sea of Okhotsk can be involved about 160 vessels. Given the distance from the fishing areas to ports at 0.5–1.5 thousand km the cost of the overhaul will reach about 8 billion rubles, he estimated. Well Putin in the Bering sea adds German Zverev, the additional costs can be up to 6 billion rubles In the Ministry of transport told “Kommersant” that the bill is pending, adding that to comment on details of its content is premature. The Ministry of energy and Ministry of natural resources also declined to comment. The Ministry of justice said that has not yet received the document. The Ministry of agriculture said that it would submit its comments in the prescribed manner on the results of consideration of the bill. The FSB did not answer questions “b”.Deputy Director UK “Norebo” Sergey Sennikov confirms that the Ministry of transport proposed amendments will create unnecessary administrative burdens and complicate the work of the fishing fleet. According to him, the new requirements may result in suspension of the fisheries or to large delays in the production of fish. In addition, the initiative threatens to increase the cost of fish production, warns a top Manager. In Rustion of the fishing company Gleb Franko agree that the new requirements create an additional burden for all companies mining in the forwarding mode (involves the delivery of the product at sea for processing and transportation to shore).Manager GK “Dobroflot” Olexander Yefremov added that the initiative forms the basis for the conflict with regulatory authorities. “In fact, usual economic activity changes the status of the notification procedure in the licensing, which will inevitably lead to errors because of imperfections in the regulations. All of this will eventually cause loss of fishing time,” says a top Manager. The President of the Association of shipowners of the fishing fleet Aleksey Osintsev adds that the Ministry of transport in the direction of the amendments in other ministries and departments should have posted the documents for public comment, but did not.Excessive regulatory burden on the fishing industry is already leading to serious losses of market participants. According to the Higher school of Economics, the requirements of fishing companies cost almost 60 billion rubles per year. As noted in VARPE, the problem is exacerbated by the negative impact of the pandemic COVID-19, as the fall in demand in the short term can lead to lower prices for fish products and the braking of the financial performance of the industry.Alexei Polukhin
