Countries

Eurofish held a meeting with and Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries to discuss areas of cooperation both with the administration and the industry. Mr Shestakov also answered several questions about developments and priorities in the Russian fisheries and aquaculture sector and discussed some of the impacts of the sanctions and counter sanctions.

Fishermen from more than 30 regions of the country displayed their products at the first All-Russian Festival of Fishery Products in Moscow that lasted for seven days. Besides providing customers with fish products the purpose of the event was to create a nationwide brand Russian Fish. The Federal Agency for Fisheries initiated the development of the Russian Fish brand to promote domestic fish products on the home market.

The fisheries sector in Estonia comprises marine and inland fisheries, freshwater aquaculture, and a processing industry. The marine fishery is further subdivided into the catches from the high seas, and the Baltic Sea. The former are sourced in the North-West Atlantic (NAFO), the North-East Atlantic (NEAFC), and Svalbard. The Baltic Sea fishery has two main components, a coastal fishery and an offshore pelagic fishery. In terms of volumes of fish caught, around two thirds of the total Estonian landings come from the Baltic Sea pelagic fishery, where the main species are Baltic herring and sprat. This is followed by the distant water landings, the coastal fishery in the Baltic Sea, and finally the inland fishery.

Political uncertainty is an obstacle to the smooth running of Estonia’s sprat and herring production. Still, the future looks bright with possibilities. We explore these developments from the point of view of the Estonian Fishing Association, the largest of the three Estonian producer organisations.

Ecofarm is a producer organisation for the Estonian aquaculture sector. Led by Oleg Epner it is in the process of implementing a swathe of new ideas that add value to fish farmed in Estonia, which can be sold on the domestic as well as international markets.

Japs is among Estonia’s leading companies in the fish processing sector in terms of the quantities of raw material processed and the number of employees. The company is vertically integrated with its own fishing vessels, processing facilities, as well as marketing, sales and distribution.

The Estonian Trawling Association (ETA) is one of Estonia’s three producer organisations. Its factory, which processes sprat and Baltic herring, went on stream at the end of August 2010. Now, the organisation is looking to increase its capacity, enlarge its use of automation, and extend a quay that will improve the offloading of catches.

DGM Shipping is a successful processor of Baltic herring and sprat. Three years ago the company was nominated for the Prix d’Elite at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels for one of its products. This year the company has just returned from Prodexpo in Moscow with a Gran-Prix for a similar creation.

Avektra is a 15-year-old Estonian company specialised in processing Norwegian salmon and trout, which is frozen, smoked and marinated for sale on markets in Western Europe.

Since last year Olavi Petron has had to deal with a series of critical issues in the fisheries sector with international repercussions. In January 2014 Russian veterinary authorities found that some Estonian fish processing factories did not comply with their standards and rescinded the plants’ export permits. In August sanctions imposed by the west on Russia sparked a ban on imports of certain fisheries products to Russia from the EU, which also affected Estonian processors. The ban is still in place and the Estonian authorities are using different strategies to assist the sector.