Governor Andrey Chibis held a meeting of the Territorial Fisheries Council of the Murmansk Region. Representatives of the regional government, industry science, fishing associations and leading enterprises of the fishing industry gathered at the site of the Murmansk Sea Fishing Port. The participants discussed the prospects for the development of the fishing port, aquaculture, as well as additional support measures.
"Despite all the difficulties, the fishing industry remains a reliable pillar for our region, steadily bringing revenue to the budget. This is, of course, the merit of our fishermen, who, in extremely difficult conditions, work daily for the benefit of the region. In order for the industry to survive, it is important to analyze the situation together, raise key issues in a consolidated manner and develop a common position for the federal center in order to initiate the correct updating of legislative norms. I thank all my colleagues for this work," said Andrey Chibis.
The governor stressed that the issues raised at the council are further worked out within the framework of the State Council Commission "Northern Sea Route and the Arctic" in order to make appropriate decisions at the federal level.
"We do not abandon initiatives and ideas at the level of conversations, but promote solutions at the federal level. Recently, the State Duma passed a law allowing the processing of cod liver on board coastal vessels. And we have done a lot of work to ensure that our initiative is supported. We have several important issues in our work right now. I also raised them at a meeting of the Federal Fisheries Agency with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Nikolaevich Patrushev, all of them are under consideration by federal agencies," Andrei Chibis recalled.
Among them, the head of the region named amendments to legislation for the export of products processed at fish factories in coastal regions; the prevention of a ban on entry into seaports for fishing vessels over 40 years old, for them this is a normal service life; an increase in the period for quotas for investment projects from 15 to 20 years.: This will enable businesses to invest in new vessels and onshore plants.
The meeting discussed the renovation project of the Murmansk Sea Fishing Port, which is included in the long-term development plan of the Murmansk agglomeration. As noted by Andrey Borodin, General Director of the port, an investment project is already being implemented to create a large logistics complex, and a cluster-type ship repair facility is planned to be established in the territory of the Coalbase port area.
"Since 2023, the port has been transferred to state ownership. We have returned a large number of previously withdrawn assets, including the Oil Depot cargo area, including the Novorybnaya railway station, refrigerators, warehouses, and administrative buildings. The port is once again becoming an integrated terminal that is capable of fulfilling government tasks for servicing fishermen in the Northern Fisheries Basin. In the last two years, a large–scale upgrade of transshipment equipment has been carried out, new cranes have been purchased, new directions are being developed - railway transportation by large-capacity refrigerated containers, for which the port has received an indefinite permit, freight forwarding services for goods that are overloaded at the port. The port is financially stable: revenue and tax deductions are growing. The development strategy has been approved until 2030," said Andrey Borodin.
According to the General director of the port, a number of investment projects are being implemented as part of the development strategy. This includes the creation of a large logistics complex in the Southern Region. A new refrigerator with a capacity of 25,000 tons of one–time storage of fish products, a container site for 400 refrigerated containers and a crab overexposure factory will be built. Together with GTLK and the government of the Murmansk Region, it is planned to implement an extremely important project for the construction of a ship repair complex based on Coal.
"Thank you to the governor and the government of the region for holding the fish farming council, for the attention paid to the fishing industry, the Murmansk sea fishing port in particular. I am confident that we will continue to develop with dignity, in accordance with the tasks assigned by the state," said Andrei Borodin.
Special attention was paid to the issue of aquaculture development during the meeting. Olga Ivanitskaya, Deputy General Director of Russian Salmon LLC for Core Business, spoke about the priority investment projects implemented by the AZRF resident company. Among them is a factory for the slaughter and processing of Atlantic salmon, commissioned in 2024, as well as a smolt plant, which began to be designed in 2025. A list of proposals in the field of food security of the country was also presented, including the participants discussing updating the list of risks in aquaculture insurance contracts, improving approaches to testing and introducing Russian vaccines and supporting domestic research institutes for their development, subsidizing fish farms in the Murmansk region.
"I want to thank everyone who works in the fishing industry for their ideas, suggestions, initiatives and feedback. We want the sphere to develop, even despite all the difficulties of today, and we will make every effort to do this," the governor said in conclusion.
It should be noted that before the meeting, the governor presented commendations and letters of appreciation to the distinguished employees of the MMRP. The participants of the meeting also observed a minute of silence in memory of Vyacheslav Ruksha, Deputy Director General of Rosatom, who headed the Russian nuclear icebreaking fleet for many years.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /