Trends in the development and updating of the fishing fleet in the Northern Basin

• Main Author: Kuranov Yu. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Murmansk State Technical University 2017-12-01
• Series: Vestnik MGTU
• Subjects: Northern Basin; fishing fleet; renewal; catch; aquatic biological resources; investment quotas; institutional and economic instruments
• Online Access: http://vestnik.mstu.edu.ru/show.shtml?art=1921

The practice and need to update and form the production and technical base of fishery enterprises have an increasing impact on performance of the fisheries complex and become decisive when considering the prospects for its development on an innovative basis. The paper examines the current state and development trends of the Northern Basin fishing fleet, its production capabilities in developing available bioresources, the need and prospects for renewal. During the research the influence of the main factors determining the formation of the quantitative and structural composition of the fishing fleet has been shown. The most stable and long-term impact is the state of commercial stocks of aquatic biological resources, their variability under the influence of natural factors and anthropogenic load. The second important factor is institutional changes. Initially, since the beginning of the 1990s, this took place due to the transformation of economic relations, and later – to institutional changes in the legislatively approved principles of granting fishing enterprises the right to access water biological resources. The following data have been presented: adaptation of the fleet's production capacities for specialization of fishing activities, ways of modernization and re-equipment, construction of new vessels, acquisition of vessels being in operation in the countries with developed fisheries. These changes had reduced the fleet's production potential raising its qualitative indicators (productivity, depth of processing of raw materials at sea). At the same time, the noted positive trends have been accompanied by some increase in the aging indicators for all groups and types of vessels. The institutional and economic instruments for supporting and stimulating the construction of new fishing vessels have been justified. Nowadays, in the Northern Basin the priority areas of support should be the construction of ships for pelagic fishing and coastal vessels. The latter is most relevant for the Murmansk region and is associated with the development of coastal infrastructure, providing the population and onshore fish processing enterprises with quality chilled fish products.