Russia's Association of Fishing Fleet Shipowners (ASRF) has warned that penalties for exporting products processed from coastal catches threaten the development of the country's coastal fisheries.
In a statement issued on November 9, the association said it had submitted estimates to fisheries regulator Rosrybolovstvo. These put coastal fishing's operating profitability for 2025 at 8.9 per cent, compared with 27.2 per cent for industrial fishing. The association said some companies are already reducing their applications for coastal quotas by as much as half.
According to the ASRF, coastal production costs exceed those of industrial fishing by 28 per cent for fresh Northern basin cod and haddock. For fresh Far Eastern pollock the premium is 50 per cent. The association attributed the gap mainly to lost fishing time and more frequent passages to port. It said existing incentives offset only four to five per cent of the difference.
The association said the practice of treating such exports as violations emerged about a year ago, although operators meet the requirement to land catches in Russia for processing at Russian plants. "However, fishermen have started receiving fines of tens of millions of roubles," the ASRF said.
In June, Russia's Supreme Court upheld a RUB30.3 million ($367,000) fine against Nord West F.K. The case concerned cod and haddock fillets produced in Murmansk from Barents Sea coastal catches and sold abroad in 2024.
The ASRF is backing an amendment introduced in April that would expressly permit such exports. It said around 80 per cent of finished products from coastal catches go to the domestic market.
The State Duma's agricultural committee requested changes to the bill in June. These include measures to block exports of products that have not undergone substantial processing at coastal-region factories.
Coastal operators have added vessels built to carry raw catch to shore plants. These include the seiners Avacha and Oktyabr'skiy, which were delivered to Kamchatka's V.I. Lenin Fishing Collective Farm in 2025.