Defending the interests of the fishermen, the LFA conducts active work on elimination of administrative barriers in the fishing industry, takes an active part in the work of fishery councils and participates in the meetings of Advisory Council on the development of the fishery industry by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev.
The Association has been a part of the Far Eastern Scientific and Fishery Council under the Federal Fishery Agency since 2015. Periodically, new fishing companies join the Association.
2021 16 December
LFA appealed to the Director of the Department of Regulatory Policy and Assessment of the Regulatory Impact of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation A.G. Litvak regarding the draft on amending the federal law "On fisheries and conservation of aquatic biological resources" in terms of improving the procedure for allocating quotas of catch of aquatic biological resources. The appeal formulates a number of reasons why, in the LFA opinion, the part of the law which establishes conceptual framework of the II stage of the Investment Quotas Program needs serious revision.
2019 23 October
LFA appealed to the Deputy Minister of Economic Development S.V. Shipov regarding the draft resolution on the amendments to the Federal rules for registration, issuance and cancellation of permits for the extraction (catch) of aquatic biological resources. LFA expressed its disagreement with the introduction of additional grounds for denial of permissions for fishery.
The response of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development to the appeal was received on October 29. If the provisions having a substantial degree of regulatory impact are found in the draft resolution, a second public discussion of the proposed changes will be organized and the deadline for preparing the final decision on the draft will be extended.
2019 28 June
LFA appealed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov with the proposal of additional amendments to the paragraph 22.22 in the the recently approved Fisheries Rules for the Russian Far Eastern Basin. According to the appeal, the current version of the paragraph threatens to reduce the effectiveness of bottom longline and net halibut fishing and worsen the conditions for fishery.
The response of the Federal Fishery Agency to the appeal was received on July 30. A meeting on the organization of halibut fishery in the Russian Far Eastern Basin is planned to be held by FFA, with the discussion of proposals to amend paragraph 22.22 of the Rules. The meeting will invite representatives of all interested parties including fishery associations.
2019 23 May
The Ministry of Agriculture issued an order on the approval of the Fisheries Rules for the Russian Far Eastern Basin. The new Rules took into account some concerns that had been raised earlier by LFA and included the following:
- setting up the allowed catch ratio of the Pacific and Greenland halibuts for every fishery area (see paragraph 22.22 of the Rules).
- prohibition of the arrow-toothed halibut fishery in the Western Bering Sea fishery area in order to eliminate the risks of the Pacific halibut by-catch (see paragraph 24 and 24.12).
2019 28 March
LFA appealed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov with the proposal of additional amendments to the paragraph 11.21 in the finalized draft of the Fisheries Rules for the Russian Far Eastern Basin.
To date the LFA have participated in a number of meetings with the Federal Fishery Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture on the development and implementation within the Fisheries Rules of the effective system of joint halibut TAC management which would provide the cessation of Pacific halibut fishery when the catch reaches the TAC and eliminate the risks of over-fishing. The LFA initiative has been taken into account in the new version of the project of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Order “On the approval of the rules for the Fisheries in the Russian Far Eastern Basin” which at present is going through the regulatory impact assessments procedure and is available on the official government site of the draft laws and regulations (see Project 02/08/12-18/00087371 on regulation.gov.ru). In particular, paragraph 11.21 of this project is aimed at setting up restrictions on the catch rates of the established total volume of the Pacific and Greenland halibut catch in relation to every fishery area. Paragraph 13.12 is aimed to implement a total ban of the arrow-toothed halibut fishery in order to eliminate the risks of the Pacific halibut by-catch.
2019 8 February
LFA appealed to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation regarding the draft on amending the federal law "On fisheries and conservation of aquatic biological resources" in terms of improving the procedure for allocating quotas of catch of aquatic biological resources, in which it expressed concern about the implications of introducing an auction system for allocating quotas in crab fishing.
2019 24 January
LFA has written an appeal to the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency P.S. Savchuk concerning e-logbooks and the process of their entry into the service on fishery vessels and in fishery companies. It has been proposed to hold a meeting with all interested parties where the fishermen’s questions and suggestions could be reviewed and the problems revealed during the e-logbook testing period would be discussed.
On the February, 8, LFA got the response from the Federal Fishery Agency: the meeting with the participation of specialists from the Center of Fishery Monitoring and Communications was planned to be hold on the 15th of February.
2019 15-22 January
LFA made a detailed review of the draft of the new fishery rules developed by the Federal Fishery Agency. As a result an appeal to the FFA Deputy Head P.S. Savchuk was prepared in which a number of changes in certain paragraphs of the new rules concerning the efficiency of the longline fishery were proposed. Later several additional proposals were directed to the FFA.
Copies of the proposals were sent to the Ministry of Economic Development, to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and to the All-Russia Association of Fisheries Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters.
On the January, 22, LFA got the response from the Ministry of Economic Development: the suggested proposals were planned to be taken into account in formulating of the final version of new rules.
2018 4 September
LFA wrote an appeal to the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with a request to take into account the position of the fishery community regarding planned legislative changes in fishery and preservation of aquatic bioresources.
2018 12 July
LFA wrote an appeal to the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency P.S. Savchuk on the problems arising during the processing of veterinary documents for fish products using the Federal civil information system “Merkury”. In conclusion, the LFA pointed to the urgent necessity of the optimization of this process.
2018 2 July
Along with the other largest Russian fishery associations, LFA signed an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin which expresses their protest against the discussed in the latest government session suggestions on changing of the traditional system of fishing quotas shared between the fishery enterprises.
2018 1 June
LFA appealed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov on the problem of killer whale depredation on longline and net catches in the Far East fishery basin.
LFA asked to consider the possibility of excluding avoidance of contracts on quota share of production (catch) of living aquatic resources due to the under-exploitation of quotas caused by high level of killer whale depredation.
2018 26 April
LFA appealed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov on the acceleration of the timing of the biologically-based cod TAC increase in the Western Bering Sea, adopted on 20 March by the Board of Directors of the FFA research institutes.
2018 27 March
LFA was included in Expert Working Group on improving control and surveillance activities in the field of fisheries and conservation of aquatic biological resources, approved by a senior official of the priority program "Reform of Control and Supervisory Activities", the Minister of the Russian Federation, M.A. Abyzov.
Types of control (supervision):
- state supervision of the commercial navigation in terms of ensuring the safety of navigation of fishing fleet vessels in fishing areas while fishing;
- Federal state control in the field of fisheries and conservation of aquatic biological resources.
2018 12 February
The LFA prepared proposals for the amendments to the draft order (issued by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture) related to the procedure of fitting and performance control of the technical means of verification (TMV) installed on fishery vessels. The proposals were sent to the All-Russia association of the fishery enterprises, entrepreneurs and exporters (VARPE).
The necessity of the amendments was caused by the fact that at present service organizations implement sealing procedures without reliability guarantee, which might lead to the risk of seal loss, due to, for example, adverse weather conditions.
2018 25 January
The LFA wrote an appeal to the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency P.S. Savchuk on the prospects of participation of its members in the development of 2018 sardine and mackerel resources in EEZ of Japan granted to Russian Federation according to the decisions of the 34th session of the Japanese-Russian Fisheries Commission. The reason for this was the refusal of the FFA Primorsky Territorial Department to accept the LFA members’ applications for the respective fishing permits.
2018 22 January
By the decision of the LFA General Assembly Vyacheslav Borisovich Bychkov has been elected President of the Association. Prior to this, he worked in the LFA as vice president.
2018 22 January
The LFA was joined by two new members: the fishing company "Orion Pacific", Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and "Kalinin Fishing Collective Farm".
"Kalinin Fishing Collective Farm" is one of the leading exporters of ground fish products from Russia. The primary activities of the company are fishing, processing and sale. The company operates through subsidiaries in Murmansk, Archangelsk and Moscow, and markets its products worldwide. "Kalinin Fishing Collective Farm" has recently merged with RK (fishing collective farm) “Zarya” which prior to this was also the LFA member.
Read more about the "Kalinin Fishing Collective Farm": http://coldwaters.ru
2017 6 December
The LFA supported the initiative of the All-Russia association of the fishery enterprises, entrepreneurs and exporters (VARPE) and the Russian trade union of fishery industry workers for holding the IV Congress of the workers of the fishery industry of the Russian Federation and expressed its readiness to participate in the event.
The LFA wrote an appeal to the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency P.S. Savchuk where it suggested ways to improve the procedures related to the entry and departure of ships from the seaports of the Russian Federation. In particular, with the aim of optimization of the coastal fish processing performed by “Rybokombinat Ostrovnoy” (Shikotan Island) it was offered to set up a round-the-clock work schedule for the Customs Service of the Yuzhno-Kurilsk port.
2017 5 December
The LFA prepared the proposal suggesting the improvements of the procedure of passing the control points for Russian and foreign vessels when crossing the border of an exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation. The proposal was sent to the president of the All-Russia association of the fishery enterprises, entrepreneurs and exporters (VARPE) G.S. Zverev with the request to take it into consideration when writing the relevant appeal to the Russian Federal Fishery Agency (FFA).
2017 23 November
The LFA wrote an appeal to the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency P.S. Savchuk in which it suggested amendments to the latest revision of the Federal Act No. 166-FZ of 20 December 2004 on fishing and the preservation of biological water resources. The suggestions related to the distribution of the halibut quota shares.
Based on requests collected from fishing companies the LFA suggested considering every halibut species separately and defining quota shares for each of the species based on coefficients calculated from species TAC data for the previous 9 years.
2017 October-November
The LFA took an active part in testing of e-logbooks developed by the Federal Fishery Agency. In total 13 LFA vessels participated in the e-logbook pilot project. The LFA summarized the results of testing and wrote a letter to A.S. Vilkin, the Head of the Center of Fishery Monitoring and Communications (CFMC) with the list of problems revealed by users during testing. The request to solve these problems during the preparation of the final version of e-logbook was also included in the letter.
In reply the LFA received the letter from CFMC in which the improvements made in the e-logbook software were listed and the operation manual for new settings was provided. However, some of the revealed problems remained unresolved. As a result the LFA wrote another letter to the Federal Fishery Agency in which expressed gratitude to the management of CFMS for quick response, described the remained problems and asked to consider them during further improvement of the e-logbook software.
Application of e-logbooks will provide online submission of electronically signed Daily Vessel Reports of catches together with data on fishing permits used and GPS position of vessels. A final version of e-logbook legislation is in preparation. The Government will adopt it by the end of 2017. The use of e-logbooks will become mandatory from 1 January 2018 with a potential transition period for some, mainly small-scale coast fisheries, without the required access to mobile communication or Internet.
2017 31 October
The Association requested the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency V.I. Sokolov to explain the new rules for imports of certain seafood products in USA. The request was based on many questions that the LFA got from fishing companies.
The Seafood Import Monitoring Program establishes for imports of certain seafood products, the reporting and recordkeeping requirements needed to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU)-caught and/or misrepresented seafood from entering U.S. commerce, thereby providing additional protections for our national economy, global food security and the sustainability of our shared ocean resources. NOAA Fisheries published the final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) on December 9, 2016. This is the first-phase of a risk-based traceability program - requiring the importer of record to provide and report key data—from the point of harvest to the point of entry into U.S. commerce—on an initial list of imported fish and fish products identified as particularly vulnerable to IUU fishing and/or seafood fraud. January 1, 2018 is the mandatory compliance date for this rule.
2017 23 August
OOO “Rybokombinat Ostrovnoy” joined the LFA, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Fish processing plant “Ostrovnoy” is located on the Shikotan Island (Southern Kuril Islands). The company was founded in 1999 on the basis of production facilities of the former fish cannery No. 24, which was seriously damaged during the earthquake of 1993. The main products of the company – canned saury. "Ostrovnoy” is the world's only onshore enterprise located in the fishing ground of saury. In 2005 the factory passed the European certification of HACCP and received the right to export products to the EU under the number 10K. Besides canned products, the plant produces frozen fish found in the waters of Shikotan Island including sardine, pollock, cod, halibut, pink salmon, chum salmon and others.
2017 14 August
The Association requested the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov to consider the possibility of extending the time limits set for sealing the technical means of verification (TMV) installed on fishery vessels until December 31, 2017. Time limits were established earlier in “Methodological recommendations on sealing the equipment referring to the technical means of verification".
2017 26 May
The Association took part in the meeting with the Deputy Head of the Federal Fishery Agency, devoted to the issues of health certificates processing and the development of a uniform documentation procedure for the exported products.
2017 26 April
On the eve of holding public hearings on the issue of reducing administrative barriers in the fishing industry (May 2017), the LFA wrote to the Chairman of the Commission on agro-industrial complex and development of rural areas of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation E. Y. Uvarkina a letter in which it expressed its view on the problem and gave advice on possible ways of solving it.
2017 20 April
The LFA took part in the round table "Development of Russian fisheries in the open and remote areas of the World ocean: problems and perspectives", organized by the Federation Council Committee on agro-food policy and environmental management.
The LFA prepared materials about the problems that arise during the organization and implementation of fisheries in the high seas, and possible ways of their solution. Following the results of the round table the Federation Council Committee made recommendations, and the LFA, in response, put forward the proposals concerning the measures to restore full-scale Russian tuna fishery.
2017 13 April
The LFA wrote an appeal to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture - the Head of the Federal Fishery Agency I.V. Shestakov, in which it formulated proposals for the draft “Methodological recommendations on sealing the equipment referring to the technical means of verification” prepared by the Center of Fishery Monitoring and Communications (CFMC).
2016 20 February
The LFA participated in the meeting of the FFA Fish Industry Council on Fisheries Forecast, which considered the results of the fisheries in the Far East in 2015, and plans for the future.
Also on 20 February there was a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Far Eastern fisheries scientific organizations. The heads of the fishery associations, including the LFA, were invited to participate in the meeting.
2015 15 December
"Sigma marine technology" joined the LFA.
The LFA was joined by a new member - the fishing company "Sigma marine technology", Khabarovsk.
OOO “Sigma marine technology” is a large rapidly developing fishing enterprise located in the Russian Far East. Together with the company “Tral Master” “Sigma marine technology” belongs to a holding company “Sigma group”. The fleet of the holding company consists of two trawlers and five longline vessels.
Read more about the company: http://sigma-m-tech.ru/en/.
2015 6 July
Mikhail Zaitsev: The Longline Fishery Association reaches the interregional level.
This year the LFA has been joined by six more companies from Primorskyi Krai, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. The interest to the Association is explained by its efforts to improve the fishery and by its activities directed towards protection of the interests of fishermen.
2015 29 April
The LFA participated in the spring session of the Far Eastern scientific and fishery Council (FESFC). The problems under discussion were connected with the established procedure for passing the control points (order of FSB and the FFA from 15 February 2010 No. 56/91).
The LFA proposed to optimize the system with the aim of improving the efficiency of ship operations at sea. “The order of FSB of Russia and the Russian Federal Fishery Agency dated 15 February 2010 No. 56/91 leads to a waste of fishing time and additional costs” - said at the FESFC meeting the President of the LFA Mikhail Zaitsev.
2014 29 October
The President of the LFA Mikhail Zaitsev made a presentation at the meeting of the Far Eastern scientific and fishery Council (FESFC). Topic: "On the prospects and problems of organization and development of longline fisheries in the Far Eastern fishery basin".
2014 29 сентября
In the framework of the International Fishermen Congress in Vladivostok, the head of the Russian Federal Fishery Agency (FFA) Ilya Shestakov declared that he expected from the fisheries associations proposals about promising sites and areas of studies. In response, the LFA sent a letter to the FFA with a request to include the following topics in the program of resource research:
- Study of the stock of the Greenland halibut in the Okhotsk Sea;
- Exploration of resources for longline fisheries in the Chukotka Sea;
- Exploration of resources for longline fishing around seamounts of the Emperor ridge;
- Study of the problems of killer whale depredation on longline halibut fisheries.
2014 27 March
The LFA participated in the meeting of the FFA Fish Industry Council on Fisheries Forecast. The meeting focused on the materials justifying the allowable catch of biological resources (TAC) in internal sea waters, territorial sea, continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation for 2015.
There were adopted TAC corrections for the next year. In particular, it was proposed to increase the cod TAC for the Chukotka fishery management zone, up to 9 thousand tons. The LFA expressed doubts about the possibility of the development of such amount of quota given the short fishing period in this area, and proposed to merge the quotas for cod in the summer-autumn period for areas 67.01 and 61.01. Subsequently, the LFA sent a letter to the Pacific Scientific Research Fisheries Center (TINRO-Center) with the request to provide scientific bases for the proposed changes.