Murmansk fisheries on verge of collapse

Fish processing plants in the Kola Peninsula are in crisis as new federal legislation disencourages vessels to land their catch in local ports. Prices on cod in the region are now almost twice higher than in neighboring Norway.

About 80 percent of the once powerful regional fish processing industry is now left without raw materials, and the 12 processing companies in the region are all threatened by collapse, newspaper Izvestia reports. According to a representative of the regional industry the volumes landed in Murmansk Oblast have dropped by almost 50 percent over the last few months.

The background for the development is the new federal law on fisheries which came into force in July this year. The legislation allows the coastal fishing vessels to freeze their catch on board and to engage in ship-to-ship deliveries of products.

The result is that the coastal fishing vessels no longer land their catch to land-based reception and reprocessing plants. Of the 15 companies which previously landed their catch in the processing plants, only three are left, the newspaper reports. The fish caught off the coast of the Kola Peninsula is now exported and processed by foreign companies.

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