Russia Business Directory

The last years has seen considerable improvement in the situation in the fishing sector of Russia. Catches and production has been increasing, in order to keep pace with the growing consumption. Import of seafood has also increased. In 2006, Russia was Norway's third largest fish export market after France and Danmark.

However, Russian fisheries still suffer from several unsolved problems, hereunder overfishing and poaching. The number of this type of crimes in fisheries increased 10 times since 1997, according to the report of Norge-Fish Company. Illegal catches are 1,5-2 times higher than allowed quotas in average, while illegal catches of sturgeon is 20 times higher than the quota. Annual income of poachers in the Barents Sea only reaches USD 200 mln, according to Russian and Norwegian sources.

One of the reasons is lack of management and control. Fishing industry is presently subordinate to more than 12 different governmental bodies. The fisheries policy is developed at the Ministry of Agriculture, services and property management are carried out by the Federal Fishery Agency, domestic control and supervision - by the Federal Agricultural Supervision Agency, while use of sea resources is controlled by the Frontier Service, reports Norge-Fish. Reforms started in the fisheries in the 1990s, never ended. The industry still needs a profounded governmental policy and clear guidelines.

One of the last trends in the industry is emerging fish-farming projects both in sea and fresh water. This reflects the governmental policy on developing the aquaculture in order to substitute imported seafood. The government is planning to subsidize fish farmers, especially those dealing with high-value species, like sturgeon. Presently, Russian fish-farming companies (only seawater) produce less than 2 000 tons fish, shellfish and seaweed. Fresh-water production is close to 113 thousand tons.

Sources: Fisheries of Russia, 3/2006; Conference "Challenges in Russian Fisheries", State Statistics Commitee.

General information
Federal Agency for Fisheries - official site of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia (rus)
Agreement on Norwegian - Russian quotas for 2007 – press release of the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Norway (eng)
All Russian Association of Fishing Enterprises and Exporters, Moscow (rus)
FISHPROM - EXPO - one of the large-scale exhibitions: research, raw fish suppliers, technical maintenance, processing of fish and seafood. Dates in 2007: November 21-23, Moscow (eng)
National Fish Resources - official site of the State Federal Enterprise within the Federal Agency for Fisheries (rus)
Fisheries in the Far Eastern region of Russia, also the data on seafood trade companies (rus)
Fish & Marine Products' Companies – International and Russian companies, dealing with fish and seafood products (eng)
News and comprehensive information about fisheries in Russia  (rus)
The Norway Post – online information on Norwegian-Russian cooperation and problems in fisheries (nor/eng)

Companies in Norway
Norwell AS – NRCC Member Company, located in Floroe, sales and marketing organisation for Norwegian salmon and trout (nor)
Aalesund Seafood – NRCC Member Company, located in Aalesund

Companies in Russia
Brig Star Group, Moscow - NRCC Member Company, wholesale of fish and seafood, with offices in Moscow, St.Petersburg and Vladivostok (eng)
Norge Fish, Moscow - NRCC Member Company, importer of high class seafood from Norway (rus)
Russian Caviar, Astrakhan - the largest fish-producing enterprise in Russia: export of black caviar of sturgeon fishes, manufacturing of the Caspian sea-lake delicacies, fish production of thick net kinds and of oceanic of raw material (eng).
Seafood and fish processing plant, St.Petersburg - fillets of different types of fish: Cod, Pike-Perch, Perch, Haddock, Pike, Wild Carp, Bream, Sheat Fish, Hunchback Salmon, Pollack, Hake, Halibut, Turbot, Salmon (rus)
Sevzapmortorg, Kaliningrad – a group of enterprises engaged in wholesale trade of fish products and fish recycling (eng)
Sevryba, Murmansk - fishery and processing of fish and marine products. Storage and transportation of seafood products (eng)

Sites about fisheries
Fishnet – comprehensive website with news from Russian fisheries and worldwide. Some free stuff, but most of information is available to subscribers only. Run by independent fisheries journalist Alexander Makarov. Ads board with commercial offers, quota and supply charts, and “Russian Fish Report” (eng).
Fish Resources – regularly updated news from Russian fisheries, commercial offers and a large database of Russian fishing companies with contact information and a short profile, though not always up-to-date. Run by Fish Resources Centre in Murmansk. A good website for those who read Russian (rus).

Research institutions
PINRO, Murmansk – Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography. Extensive cooperation with Norwegian research institutions. English version is limited (eng/rus).

VNIRO - All Russia research institute, located in Moscow (eng/rus).

AtlantNIRO, Kaliningrad - Atlantic Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography. Information about the structure, expeditions, news (eng).

Hobby fishing etc
Freshwater fishes in Russia – an English-language website with information about species, catches, governmental policy etc