Fishing is one of the traditional economic sectors of the Murmansk region and plays an important role in the socio-economic specialization of the region. Fishermen of the Murmansk region produce about 12% of the all-Russian catch, 55% of the catch of enterprises of the Northern Fishery basin. Every eighth ton of fish food products in Russia is produced by Murmansk enterprises.
The basis of the sector is the fishing fleet and the coastal complex, including port facilities, coastal fish processing enterprises and ship repair companies. 150 organizations of the Murmansk region are engaged in fishing, fish farming, processing and canning of fish and seafood. They employ about 7.5 thousand people.
The volume of extraction of marine aquatic biological resources by the enterprises of the region last year amounted to 576.4 thousand tons, which is 93.2% compared to the same indicator in 2021 (618.6 thousand tons).
Most of the fishing is carried out in 200-mile zones of foreign countries on the basis of international agreements and treaties in the field of fishing (70% of the catch).
About 550-700 thousand tons of aquatic biological resources are extracted annually. The annual production volume of processed and canned fish, crustaceans and shellfish is 450-600 thousand tons.
Industrial fishing, fishing fleet
The Murmansk region is the leading region of the European part of Russia for the extraction of aquatic biological resources.
Industrial fishing is mainly carried out in 200-mile zones of foreign countries in accordance with international treaties and agreements on fishing. These are the Norwegian economic zone and the zones of Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal, the Svalbard region and NEAFC (Northeast Atlantic) and NAFO (Northwest Atlantic) convention zones.
The Russian fishing area accounts for about 20-30% of the catch, foreign areas account for about 60% of the catch, and the World Ocean outside 200-mile zones accounts for about 10% of the total catch of enterprises in the Murmansk region.
The fishing fleet of enterprises of the Murmansk region has 200 vessels, including: 13 large vessels, 7 big vessels, 111 medium vessels, 69 small vessels. The average age of the vessels exceeds 30 years.
Murmansk enterprises continue to participate in the quota program for investment purposes (the so-called "investment quotas"). As part of the investment quota, Murmansk fishing companies signed up for the construction of fishing vessels.
As part of the campaign to allocate 50% of the quotas of production (catch) of crabs for investment purposes, 4 companies signed up for the construction of 9 crab fishing vessels for the subsequent fishing of Kamchatka crab and opilio crab.
Port infrastructure
An important infrastructural element of the fishing industry in the region is the Murmansk Sea Fish Port – the largest fish cargo terminal in the North-West of the Russian Federation.
The Port occupies an area of more than 160 hectares, the total length of the mooring front exceeds 4 km, the length of railway tracks is 30 km, the length of crane tracks is 3 km. The ice-free Kola Bay makes it possible to provide port services year-round.
The total cargo turnover of the fish terminal in 2022 amounted to 326.4 thousand tons, including 237.5 thousand tons of fish products.
Fish processing on land
There are about 40 coastal fish processing plants in the region, producing more than 200 units of products. Frozen fish fillets and fish make up a significant part of the range produced. In addition, salted, smoked, dried, canned fish is produced.
Most fish processing plants are certified for fish export.
Aquaculture
The Kola Peninsula has a good natural resource potential for the development of fish farming. The length of the coastline of the Kola Peninsula allows to choose a sufficient number of wind-protected lips and bays for the organization of marine aquaculture (mariculture). In the coastal waters of the Kola Peninsula, it is possible to artificially grow Atlantic salmon, trout and a number of other species of aquatic organisms.
The fishery fund of inland reservoirs includes more than 900 thousand hectares of freshwater lakes and 180 thousand hectares of reservoirs.
Commercial fish farming began to develop in the region in the early 90s of the last century.
Today, the bulk of commercial fish farming in the Murmansk region is provided through the implementation of major investment projects in mariculture. According to data for 2022, the region's indicator of 85.1 thousand tons is 22.2% of the all-Russian volume of commercial aquaculture production.
Leading enterprises and industry associations
Fisheries and fish processing enterprises are voluntary members of dozens of public associations of the fisheries complex.
Some associations are members of the All-Russian Association of Fish Producers and Exporters (VARPE).
The non-profit association Union of Fishermen of the North is one of the leading fisheries associations in the Northern Fisheries Basin. The Union includes 56 companies, including 54 fishing and fish processing companies, 2 non-fishing companies, the total number of employees is more than 5 thousand people. There are more than 110 fishing and transport fleet units on the balance sheet of fishing enterprises.
Murmansk Regional Union of Collective Fisheries unites enterprises of the fishery complex, which are agricultural production cooperatives that create jobs for residents of small settlements in the Murmansk region. About 1000 people are employed at the enterprises of the Union.
The non-profit partnership Northwest Fisheries Consortium unites companies engaged in fishing and processing of fish and crabs and selling products on domestic and foreign markets.
The Association of Coastal Fishermen and Fish Farms of Murmansk includes more than 20 enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, among them are: fishing and fish processing enterprises, coastal infrastructure enterprises and educational institutions.
