Alexander Savelyev Head of the Fisheries Information Agency
Literally on the eve of the IV All-Russian Congress of Fishermen of Fisheries, a grandiose scandal erupted. It suddenly turned out that 600 thousand tons of aquatic biological resources, which will be withdrawn from all Russian fishing companies for investment in the construction of ships and processing factories, are actually destined for the Russian Fishery Company. Mostly. Four years ago, the industry assumed that the “weaning” of part of the quotas for investment projects was started in the interests of only this “limited liability company”, and now, when they looked at the minutes of the commission for selecting applications for investment quotas, even some doubts were dispelled.
It turned out that some companies will be able to conclude agreements on fixing investment quotas for the construction of ships and factories without auction procedures, while others will gain access to these quotas through auctions. Worse, in the Far East, with the most demanded fish resources, the following companies are in the forefront: Mintai Pervy LLC, Novy Seyval LLC, Troitsa Bay LLC, Novostroy LLC, Novy Voskhod LLC, RRPK Vostok LLC ". All these legal entities were registered only last year, they are located in Vladivostok on Pushkinskaya Street and were born not without the participation of the Russian Fishery Company.
A couple of years ago, at a meeting of the Presidium of the State Council on the development of the fishery complex, Vladimir Putin uttered a sacramental phrase: “Indeed, there are people who are very good. Now we need to distribute this “very good” to the entire population of the country.”
It seems that not everyone heard it, and they strive to make it even better.
What do we have now? A radical change in the law on fisheries for investment purposes and the issuance of about 30 government decrees aimed at updating the fishing fleet and coastal processing enterprises. New legal documents are baked like pies. Attentive experts only manage to detect flagrant inconsistencies in them.
Another scandal that spoiled the solemn pre-Congress mood is precisely related to the published rules for the distribution of production quotas in sea waters. We are talking about nothing less than the grounds for refusing to fix the share of the quota.
The experts found that the wording of one of the grounds for refusing to secure a share of the quota jeopardizes the right to production for any company that has a contract concluded as a result of universal succession or auction within the last 9 years. And, of course, they suspected that such a wording appeared for a reason, but in the interests of "people who are very well."
The Federal Agency for Fishery immediately promised to correct the “mistake” by April 1, in response to the appeal of the VARPE, due to a misunderstanding, however, the fishermen still had a sediment, and now they simply tripled their vigilance.
The fishermen are talking according to Zhvanetsky: “Everything is going well. Just past," - therefore, in the draft appeal to the President of Russia, the government, the State Duma and the Federal Assembly, on the eve of the congress, along with an extremely fundamental question for the industry about the inviolability of the "historical principle", they introduced, I quote verbatim: "Pay the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia to the inadmissibility of poor-quality preparation of regulatory legal acts that entail negative consequences for the fishery complex, including material losses ... "And also:" To ask the Federal Agency for Fishery to ensure public control, post on the website of the Federal Agency for Fishery for a period of at least 10 working days a draft decision of the interdepartmental Commission to determine the shares assigned to Russian applicants who filed applications for their receipt, in the total volume of quotas for the catch (production) of aquatic biological resources.
The concern of the fishermen is understandable. The pre-Congress sentiments were not limited to two scandals. True, the mine that the developers laid in the draft federal law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in the Field of Fisheries and the Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources in Part of Conducting Auctions in Electronic Form” is just about to explode. Having been burned on the milk of investment quotas, the industry is now blowing on the water of each document and is concerned, but are these muddy amendments being prepared in the interests of the same “people who are doing very well”? After all, with the help of the underlying mechanism, you can masterfully juggle not only with the conduct, but most importantly, with the results of these very “electronic auctions”. This is first. And secondly, it became quite obvious in whose interests these same auctions are being prepared in general. Especially crab!
The attention of the fishermen did not pass by the speech at the Sochi Economic Forum of the Minister of the Russian Federation for the Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov, “Is it easy to be an entrepreneur. The view of business and government.
“Not long ago,” the minister said, “together with the Federal Security Service, we conducted a survey of entrepreneurs. 11 thousand people were interviewed about the problems of relations with the control and supervisory authorities.” 65% of respondents said that the main problems are related to the frequently changing rules of the game. A third of entrepreneurs named excessive reporting and bureaucracy as one of the key difficulties. Another third noted the problems associated with the manifestation of corruption.
The congress of fishermen will demonstrate, perhaps, other alignments. Let's see.
These are the times, as Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner says.
Fish processing enterprises that are members of the Fish Union proposed to lift the ban on the supply of fish from some countries of the world, introduced in August 2014. The initiative is due to the fact that it did not happen. About why the Russian fish export market is “more popular” than the domestic one and what is the price of seafood production for domestic use, argues head of the information agency for fishery Alexander Savelyev:
I understand the Fisheries Union because they made super profits from the rubbish they brought from abroad, including this Norwegian aquacultured salmon and trout. According to Norwegian scientists, this is the most toxic food in the world. Now the concern of the Fish Union is due to the fact that most of the Russian fish, about 60%, caught in Russia, is sent directly for export. Moreover, the government and the Federal Agency for Fishery proposes to spend another trillion rubles on export promotion.
A completely absurd situation arises: on the one hand, we motivate and stimulate exports in every possible way, we export our own fish, and on the other hand, we are perplexed that fish processing enterprises do not have enough raw materials. Here, as they say, “either put on shorts or take off the cross,” so you need to turn on all the levers in the hands of the regulator in order to saturate the domestic market with your own fish. Including it is necessary to provide raw materials. The most effective way to do this is to differentiate the rates of fees for the use of aquatic biological resources.
This means that if the fish is exported, then it is necessary to fulfill the plan by 100%, and if for the domestic market, to the enterprises of your country, then, accordingly, 0%. It is necessary to cancel VAT refunds to exporters, to remove all extortions in their native ports, which build some insurmountable administrative barriers in the way of fishermen, there are a lot of levers. It is necessary to create all conditions for saturating the domestic market, to motivate it. So far, the whole economic situation is developing in such a way that it is simply more profitable to export fish. Firstly, the dollar exchange rate has increased, and secondly, when we joined the WTO, we undertook obligations to nullify import and export duties.
The mechanism is clear: every customs officer, border guard and "skin". Only veterinary documents cost Russian fishermen about 9 billion rubles a year. In such a situation, who in their right mind would take the fish to their home port? Therefore, these bewilderments and these groans about the lack of raw materials are quite understandable, on the one hand, and on the other hand, everything is in the hands of the regulator - you need to turn on your head, first of all. Fish business due to "regulatory chaos" incurs losses of 17 billion rubles annually.
Alexander Savelyev Head of the Fisheries Information Agency
Fishing from January 1 next year, which is 90 days away, will be suspended.
The other day, during the All-Russian conference call, the Department of Science and Education of the Federal Agency for Fisheries informed the public that the deadlines for the state environmental review of total allowable catches and their adjustments were not met. This means that an emergency situation has arisen.
The total allowable catch, or TAC, is a fundamental indicator for the industry. Every fisherman, every fishing company in Russia that owns quotas for fishing fish or other aquatic biological resources, is waiting for this indicator to see what share of this TAC is allowed to be caught next year in order to build their plans in order to eventually start the actual fishery from 1 January. This is a fundamental thing for the industry. Without the ODE, no fishing will begin.
This year the fishermen were left without ODU!
Due to the large, or rather unprecedented, number of comments from the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources to the materials prepared by the Federal Agency for Fishery, orders for the state environmental review were issued by the relevant Department of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources with an unacceptable delay. For example, in the Far Eastern Federal District - September 17, 18, 19. At the same time, the period for conducting an examination for the TAC for the next year, 2019, is two months, and another month for adjusting the TAC. That is, we are not in time for the New Year.
In dry bureaucratic language, it looks like this. The State Ecological Expertise of the TAC for 2019 cannot be completed within the time limits established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 25, 2009 No. 531 “On the determination and approval of the total allowable catch of aquatic biological resources and its change” - until October 1 of the current year. This will lead to the lack of opportunities for the Federal Agency for Fishery to timely distribute quotas for the production (catch) of aquatic biological resources and issue permits within the regulatory deadlines and, accordingly, to stop fishing in relation to most types of aquatic biological resources from January 1, 2019.
Needless to say, the failure to meet the deadlines for the examination entails significant losses for the enterprises of the fishery complex, primarily in the pollock fishery and a whole range of fish in coastal fisheries? Moreover, these losses cannot be compensated even during subsequent work due to the limited period of fishing in the winter. Needless to say, such a New Year's gift from the Federal Agency for Fishery will not add gastronomic joy and variety to the already meager fish counters to the holiday?
The only thing that somehow justifies the officials is their extreme workload. Over the past year, the Federal Agency for Fishery has been so carried away by organizing auctions in the industry that, as they say, hands do not reach the implementation of direct functionality.
Now the forecast.
The state environmental review and adjustment of the TAC for a number of commercial facilities will be completed no earlier than October 16th. The issue of orders of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia and the Federal Agency for Fishery on the distribution of quotas for the extraction (catch) of aquatic biological resources between users will take place within three to four weeks. And they still need to be published!
Of course, in the conditions of the emergency that has arisen, officials will now stir, but a downtime in the field is guaranteed.
Who will bear the responsibility for millions in losses, for lost tax revenues, for unpaid salaries? Who is responsible for this mess?
Now, as usual, appeals from all coastal regions will fly to the government, to the president, indignation, indignation, demands ... (Let's note in brackets that, for example, Oleg Kozhemyako needs this on the eve of the elections ?!) In fact, many questions arise. But the question of when and which officials will fly out of their comfortable seats is just as important for the industry as the formation of ODUs in accordance with government regulations.
In fact, a lot of such appeals, indignations, indignations and demands have accumulated over the past year. I'll just name a recent one. The All-Russian Association of Fishermen appealed to the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation with a request to evaluate the effectiveness of public administration in the fishery sector. VARPE President German Zverev sent an appeal to Alexei Kudrin, Chairman of the RF SP, asking him to openly analyze the methods for assessing the effectiveness of state management in the fisheries sector, which are used by federal departments, and the financial and economic risks of legislative instability. "In the last 3-4 months, the actions of the government of the Russian Federation regarding the regulation of the fishery complex have all the signs of" regulatory chaos ", the press service of VARPE quotes German Zverev's letter on its website.
It will be interesting to know the reaction of the head of the department, Alexei Kudrin, who introduced this term in the Development Strategy of the Russian Federation for 2018-2024, being the head of the Center for Strategic Research, as well as the reaction of other responsible persons to the current emergency situation in the fishing industry.
- The date: 27.12.2012
GRNIP: 312774636200749
Tax authority:
Reason for the change:(R21001) Registration of a sole trader as an individual entrepreneur
The documents:
- P21001 Application for registration of a sole trader as an individual entrepreneur
- An identity document of a citizen of the Russian Federation
- Application for the transition to a simplified taxation system - The date: 27.12.2012
GRNIP: 412774636209902
Tax authority: Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 46 for Moscow, No. 7746
Reason for the change: - The date: 29.12.2012
GRNIP: 412774636408063
Tax authority: Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 46 for Moscow, No. 7746
Reason for the change: - The date: 20.02.2013
GRNIP: 413774605100676
Tax authority: Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 46 for Moscow, No. 7746
Reason for the change:(R26001) Termination of IP activities
The documents:
- R26001 Application for termination of IP activity
- A document confirming the submission of information to the FIU
- Document confirming the payment of the state fee - The date: 20.02.2013
GRNIP: 413774605100687
Tax authority: Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 46 for Moscow, No. 7746
Reason for the change: Entering information about accounting with the tax authority - The date: 11.12.2013
GRNIP: 413774634507553
Tax authority: Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 46 for Moscow, No. 7746
Reason for the change: Entering information about registration in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation
Russia has banned the import of fish from the European Union and the United States. It would seem that this is a chance for our fishermen. They moaned for years: they say, we are ready to fill the stores with the freshest goods, but damned imports are in the way. But... the miracle didn't happen. Fish has risen in price, and nothing more. This means that our fishermen are not capable of anything, the layman thinks. We talked about how the fishing industry actually works with Alexander Savelyev, the most advanced expert today. He is the head of the Fisheries Information Agency. Prior to that, he headed the Center for Public Relations of the Federal Agency for Fisheries for almost seven years. a.
FROM THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE - ONE CHAT
- Retaliatory sanctions in general - good or bad for the industry?
Certainly a blessing. For a country washed by thirteen seas, with more than two million lakes and more than two million rivers, a chance has miraculously arisen to realize its fishing potential. We have 240 commercial fish species. For almost a year, you can change the fish dish every day and never repeat it.
Only rubbish in the form of artificially grown fish has been and will be imported into Russia. All this Norwegian salmon, Chinese tilapia, Vietnamese pangasius, all these sea bream, sea bass - fish from cages and ditches, fed with feed with the addition of growth stimulants, antibiotics, dyes, cannot be compared with high-quality wild Russian fish. In addition, this rubbish is still many times more expensive for us. And our fish is exported - almost half of all volumes. And that's just the official count. Criminal poaching is estimated at nearly $1 billion more.
- Who is guilty?
This situation is very beneficial for importers and exporters. The state created very favorable conditions for them. They process the goods within two hours, and in order to send fish from Sakhalin to Ryazan, you need to run around with paperwork for a couple of weeks and spend money. So it is much less profitable to work for the domestic market purely economically.
- But now it's all wrong?
Indeed, it took 24 hours to introduce countermeasures against Western sanctions. The state apparatus can sometimes work quickly and efficiently. But more than two months have passed since the introduction of the embargo on food, including on fish from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway, and the Ministry of Agriculture, apart from chatter, has done nothing. They did not lift a finger about import substitution, stimulating native fishermen and fish processors, and increasing the profitability of their business. Fishermen still spend billions on veterinary clearance alone. The Ministry of Agriculture has a department for regulation in the field of fisheries and aquaculture. What they regulate there is unclear.
At the same time, the ministry seeks to further burden the work of fishermen. A 50-100% increase in payments for the use of aquatic biological resources is being seriously discussed. Why do we pay officials salaries?
DIVIDE FOR MONEY
- At the same time, the price of fish goes up.
The growth of the retail price for frozen whole fish is ahead of inflation and reached only by September, according to Rosstat, already almost 11% since the beginning of the year. For other items, prices generally go off scale. Neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor the Federal Agency for Fishery is interested in this at all. Not a single step has been taken to regulate the price. They are focused on something else.
- On what?
On how to redistribute quotas in three years or how to dilute fishermen for additional fees. The other day there was an official announcement that the volume of fish transportation from the Far East to the western regions of the country fell by almost a quarter. It is much easier and more profitable for Far Eastern fishermen to hand over their entire catch to the huge logistics centers of South Korea and China.
What are the officials doing? Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fedorov threatens those who raise prices for fish with law enforcement agencies, and the Federal Agency for Fishery is looking for fish from Icelanders, then from Chileans, then from Faroese. Not only is it just humiliating, but it also adds problems to your own business. What is the Faroes? Godforsaken islands in the North Atlantic. There was no written language until the 19th century.
- Well, writing has nothing to do with it, maybe they have better fish?
We have our own excellent fish in abundance. But look what the Federal Agency for Fishery is doing at this time. A month earlier than last year, the agency closes fishing on the rivers of Kamchatka. As a result, the fishermen burned out tens of millions of rubles.
INSTEAD OF GROWTH - FALL
- Alexander Anatolyevich, maybe you just have a subjective attitude towards the Federal Agency for Fishery after you left it?
In my opinion, the team change should be characterized by a new stage of development. But almost a year has passed, the figures are falling. Only two numbers. Fish catch volumes - minus 5%. This is taking into account the fact that the Crimean has joined the all-Russian fish. Therefore, the real fall is even greater. The catch of the most, as they say, folk varieties - salmon, herring, pollock has decreased. And most importantly, fish consumption is decreasing in the country. The forecast for this year is less than 15 kg per person on average. In the past, let me remind you, it was 22 kg. At the recommended rate of 20 kg. All in all, this is sad. At the same time, the direct instructions of the President and the Prime Minister regarding the fishery complex are not being fulfilled.
- What exactly?
Just one example. The Ministry of Agriculture has been preparing the law “On Aquaculture” for 14 years. Last year, the president finally signed it and instructed to adopt a set of by-laws by the end of 2013 so that it would work in practice. However, 2014 is coming to an end, and the law on aquaculture has not yet come into force, the necessary resolutions and orders of the government have not been prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture.
In our Ministry of Agriculture, there are no proper qualifications of officials who are involved in the development of aquaculture in Russia, and no proper responsibility. But the saddest thing is that the department is not very good at fulfilling the instructions of the government. The prime minister has also repeatedly pointed out the need to develop aquaculture in the country. We have tremendous potential in this area, especially in the Far East. The former head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, Andrey Krainy, sent proposals to the Ministry of Agriculture on the development of the industry more than once. Only projects in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, on Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands open up the prospect of creating more than one million jobs. The market for this area is limitless. China, for example, will buy as much trepang as we offer it there. And the scallops! Seaweed! Mussels! Oysters! As a result, these proposals fell to the Ministry of Agriculture like nuts in a swamp.
We are hopelessly behind in the field of aquaculture, missed several technological revolutions in this area, and, like fifteen years ago, we produce an insignificant 150,000 tons of fish. For comparison, I would say that in the same China, this figure is close to 50 million tons. And we will continue to wait decades from the Ministry of Agriculture for some pieces of paper.
BUYER NOTE
How sellers bring goods to life
- Abroad, I was breathtaking from the abundance in the fish markets ...
Here we are talking about aquaculture. This is perhaps the only growth potential for the live and chilled fish market. That is, the fresh fish that we see on foreign shelves.
- What do we have?
At a Moscow market, I was touted a chilled squid fillet covered with ice, produced by a fishing company that I know very well. I know that this company harvests squid in the Bering Sea, about three days' journey from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and a week's journey from Vladivostok. I figured out in my mind how it is possible to deliver chilled squid fillet from there to the capital ten thousand kilometers away? .. It doesn’t work out in any way. And next to it was a chilled cod fillet. The seller cheerfully said that it was made right at sea on a ship. It would be better if he did not say this, because all the cod fillets produced on board the fishing vessels of the Northern Basin are immediately frozen.
- So it's not true?
You see, the phrase "chilled fish" is a specific term, GOST 814-96. One of three possible options for selling fish. In the store, it can be either live in aquariums, or frozen in freezers, or chilled on the so-called glaciers. Only live, freshly caught fish is suitable for cooling. That is, according to GOST, it is impossible to make chilled fish from frozen fish.