The Accounts Chamber will present the report “Assessment of the effectiveness of the use of commercial aquatic biological resources and the assessment of federal budget funds allocated to promote the construction of fishing vessels and coastal facilities in 2017-2021 and late 2022”. The document was drawn up on the basis of the results of the joint control measure of the controlling and accounting authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the Joint Venture. And this will be the first instance where the SAI report covers all types of audits, including strategic audits, as part of a control measure.
about what
In 2017, the first phase of the program of investment quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources in Russia was launched. In return for commitments to build new fishing vessels at Russian shipyards or onshore processing plants, the state has allocated 20% of the permitted catch for herring, cod and pollock in the Far East and cod and haddock in the North. Under the program, fishing companies have committed to build 64 ships and 27 factories. The total investment is over 240 billion rubles. True, more than 2/3 of the “investments” are funds of the Savings Bank of Russia, provided in the form of loans. And to date, only 7 ships and 21 factories have been built.
In 2019, the Federal Fisheries Agency held its first “crab auctions”, taking 50% of the quotas from owners who signed a contract with the state until 2033 the year before. The last lot was sold in 2021. In total, 41 batches went to about 144.2 billion rubles, and the winners also had to build 41 crab fishing boats, which would cost the fishermen an additional 60 billion rubles. Of the 41 “crabfish” promised so far, only 3 have been released.
The first phase is still in full swing, but at the end of last year it became known that in 2023, the authorities decided to start the next phase. As previously reported “socialbites.ca”, “The Draft Law Amending the Federal Law on Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources (in terms of improving the mechanism for the allocation of investment quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources) provides for 24% of the quotas for its extraction. Herring and pollock in the Far Eastern fishing basin will be allocated for the construction of modern ships or coastal fish processing facilities. The government also plans to hold tenders with investment commitments. As a result, 100% of the quotas for the extraction of Far Eastern mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates and 50% of all quotas for the extraction of crabs will be redistributed.
In March, the All-Russian Fishermen’s Association (VARPE) analysis It was concluded that the losses of the fishing sector, one of the investment quotas in the second phase of the draft law, will exceed the investment many times over. “The total loss of the industry will be 998 billion rubles, which is 3.2 times the amount of investment,” the association’s report states.
promise to the auditor
Previously, VARPE, RSPP and OPORA Rossii called for a moratorium on amendments to the main law governing the work of the local fishing complex. The governors of the fishing districts have repeatedly spoken of the socio-economic consequences in the form of bankruptcy of small companies, rising unemployment and the loss of billions in revenues from regional budgets. The Court of Accounts gave its opinion on the bill in October. A copy of the document is available to the editors.
One of the main conclusions of the Joint Venture is that the approval of the draft law will have a negative impact not only on the business and regional budgets, but also on all citizens of the country, as it will seriously increase the prices of fish products. consumer market. Fishing companies collected about one hundred and fifty billion loans. “Further increase in the debt burden in the sector not only jeopardizes the implementation of investment projects in the first phase, but can also create preconditions for rising prices of fish and fish products in the consumer market, since all the costs of investors are associated with them. Participation in auctions and the implementation of new investment objects are expected to be charged according to cost,” he said.
The document also points to other dangers of the proposed industrial reform and that official statistics are not linked to the results of implementing the first phase of the investment quota program and cannot be a confirmation of the positive impact of the quota program. state support mechanisms.
Vote – don’t vote
The parameters of the second phase of the investment quota program and the draft amendments to the “Law on Fisheries” were announced. introduced to the State Duma on July 28. Just three months later, on October 27, the first reading was held, but during the debate, MPs from all groups spoke out in favor of concluding the reading. As a result, the State Duma also took a decision to finalize the document, taking into account the main guidelines and decided to create a conciliation commission.
The head of the agricultural issues committee responsible for the project, Vladimir Kashin, noted that the Communist Party faction was concerned about the situation in general if deputies “officially voted for this initiative”. He noted that a lot of work fell on the deputies to finalize the document. “As chairman of the committee, I would like to address you again, dear comrades, this is now our common responsibility. We have absolute confidence that we are on the right track to avoid the risks that may arise here at the outset.”
The reconciliation commission was chaired by State Duma Deputy Speaker Alexei Gordeev and said at parliamentary sessions on the draft law that the main purpose of the document should be the availability and diversity of fish for Russians, not the number of new ships and factories. citizens. It involved not only lawmakers and senators, but also representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Fisheries Agency, regions and industry associations to work on the changes. And the commission’s recommendations will form the basis of an updated version of the bill, which the agricultural issues committee will submit for a second reading.
work on bugs
Editing the invoice before the second reading doesn’t stop. Deputies of all groups – the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, “Fair Russia – Patriots – For Truth”, the Liberal Democratic Party, “United Russia”, “New People” – actively participated in this work. All proposals are similar in one way or another, which confirms the unified position of deputies on the need to clarify the norms of the bill. They suggested postponing the crab tenders and implementing the “quota for fleet” program, canceling shellfish tenders, introducing mandatory shipbuilding in addition to coastal facilities, and leaving the “bonuses” to first-stage investors. in the form of an additional amount of resources.
similar offers You said and senators. Moreover, the Council of Federations is confident that the best protection for small and medium-sized enterprises in fisheries will be the complete exclusion of SMEs from the second stage of investment quotas. On October 4, Valentina Matvienko, spokesperson for the upper house of the Russian parliament, said that senators represent the interests of the Russian regions during the “government hour” and that the governors and legislatures of a number of coastal regions gave a negative assessment of the controversial initiative.
Defend the interests of fishing industry businesses and regional legislators and heads of regional administrations. Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Murmansk, Magadan – everywhere advocate changes aimed at preventing a complete “quota redistribution” in the fishing industry and subsequent worsening of the socio-economic situation in the coastal regions of the Russian Federation. The same position is shared by the governors.
Clearly, the results of the analysis on the implementation of the first phase of the program need to be awaited in order to complete the large-scale work to finalize the draft law and approve the effective dates of certain provisions. . Already on 20 December, the final report of the Court of Accounts containing the strategic audit results will be presented to the public.