Kamchatka, Russia Governor Vladimir Solodov is planning reforms for the country’s largest fishing sector.
The area yields 30 percent of the country’s nearly five-million metric tons of catch each year. Solodov’s plan includes investments into science, a renewed fight against poaching, and the development of fishery logistics via the Northern Sea Route.
Solodov was appointed provisional governor of the Kamchatka region in the Russian Far East in April 2020 after leaving the position of the prime minister of the Republic of Yakutia, the neighboring region, also in the Far East. After receiving greater than 80 percent of the vote, he was elected the governor in late September 2020. Soon thereafter, he rolled out a draft of a new regional development strategy with an emphasis on such areas as fishery, logistics, and tourism.
Upon entering office in September, Solodov started to promote his initiatives in numerous interviews across major media outlets. Focusing on the fact that prices for wild fish have been rising on international markets, he emphasized that the nature of Kamchatka has experienced rather little human activity, which positively influenced the conditions for fish to rise.
“We will have no problems with selling our fish,” he said in an interview with TASS media agency.
However, there are other problems to be solved to supply markets with highly sought-after wild seafood. One of the most serious of them is logistics. With a small population, Kamchatka has to sell almost all of its catch to other Russian regions located thousands of kilometers away. Most of the harvest is transported via a long and complex supply chain, including sea and railway legs. Long transportation times means losses in quality and additional expenses making products on shelf rather expensive.
The latest idea is to use the Northern Sea Route to reduce travel time and costs associated with logistics, along with gains in quality. In 2020, only one trip was made by lighter carrier ship Sevmorput, with 5,500 metric tons (MT) of fish aboard from Kamchatka. The region needs regular trips to reach the cities of the Russian Northwest like St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, and Murmansk in a two-week period to bring fresh seafood at minimal price possible. These regular trips in turn require enough cargo to be transported in both directions, a task Solodov is currently trying to solve by eyeing the needs of shippers in Europe and Asia.
Fishery science is another task on the list. During a session of the collegium of Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries held in early October, Solodov voiced his concerns over the funding of the Kamchatka Fishery Scientific Research Center.
For 2021, its funding is going to be 27 percent less than for 2020, amid the worst salmon season over years. The 2020 season was projected to bring 240,000 MT of salmon to Kamchatka’s fisheries, but it turned out to be just 191,000 MT, a clear sign that scientific methods need to be improved. Fewer investments, Solodov said, are not going to help reach this goal. On its part, the region is ready to take part in boosting science, for example, by the creation of remote-piloted vehicles for research works, monitoring, and control.
Fighting with poaching is one more priority outlined by the ambitious governor. The intention is in line with the authorities’ efforts trying to curb illegal, which have been trying to curb illegal selling of salmon and salmon roe over recent years.
Solodov suggested the steps already voiced by fishery authorities willing to beef up fishery inspectors and get them better equipment and more authority to crack down on poachers would be the first to work on.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
