Russian federal fishery agency to introduce rescue vessels into service

The Russian Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) will introduce a new fleet of eight emergency response vessels that will be used for search and rescue (SAR), mainly in incidents that involve fishing boats.

Four of the vessels will operated by Rosrybolovstvo's Far Eastern Expeditionary Rescue Team while the other four will be handed over to the agency's Northern Expeditionary Rescue Team.

The new all-weather-capable SAR vessels belong to the Project IRV05 series developed by state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) in compliance with Russian Maritime Register of Shipping rules. Construction of all eight units will be undertaken at one of USC's shipyards.

The vessels' duties will also include safety patrols, towing of debris and damaged vessels even in waters with surface ice, firefighting on other vessels and coastal structures, and salvage.

The introduction of the Project IRV05 vessels is in line with a Rosrybolovstvo directive calling for the introduction of locally-built platforms to replace imported equipment.