The fish industry in Murmansk caught a total of 697,000 ton in 2013, regional Governor Marina Kovtun confirmed in a speech this week. This is the biggest volume in the whole post-Soviet period, the regional leader underlined, a press release for the Murmansk government office reads.
The positive trend is reflected in figures from Rosstat, the Russian statistical office, according to which regional fish production in 2013 increased by 10,4 percent. Also 2012 saw a significant increase in fish catch (21%).
Meanwhile, only a minor share of the catch is being handled by regional processing plants. The lion’s share is either landed in foreign ports, or delivered to floating reception ships. Figures from Patchwork Barents show that Murmansk fish processing plants in 2012 handled less than 290,000 tons, only about 40 percent of the catch.
According to Governor Kovtun, the good catch results come in the wake of successful measures taken by regional authorities. However, critics might say the opposite. As previously reported, fish processing plants in the Kola Peninsula have for several years been in crisis as new federal legislation disencourages vessels to land their catch in local ports. In late 2013, almost 80 percent of the once powerful regional fish processing industry was left without raw materials, and the 12 processing companies in the region were all threatened by collapse. At the same time, prices on cod in the region were paradoxically almost twice higher than in neighboring Norway.
