Ukraine’s seafood business: Impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine
For Ukraine’s capture fisheries, the current war started, in fact, in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, when the country lost access to over half of its marine resources. Even with that loss the wild capture sector remains the country’s second-largest source of fish and seafood after imports, contributing about 20% of the total supply in the period between 2014 and 2022. Capture fisheries are historically carried out on the high seas, in the Black and Azov Seas, and in inland waters. Russia’s invasion severely damaged Ukraine’s marine captures: in 2021, before the invasion, catches from the Black and Azov Seas totalled about 16,300 tonnes according to national statistics. This was already 80% below what it was before the annexation of Crimea. By 2023 catch volumes from the Sea of Azov plunged to zero, and catches in the Black Sea plummeted to 415 kilos only, a tiny fraction of levels in preceding year.
Eurofish spoke to Mr Serhiy Artemenko, the head of the Lieutenant Schmidt fishing cooperative, located in the Rybakivka settlement of Mykolaiv region, on the Black Sea coast, to learn how Ukraine’s fishing communities adapt to these harsh conditions. This is the ninth in a series of articles in Eurofish Magazine dedicated to seafood businesses in Ukraine and how they work and survive during the war.
This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 5 2024
The state-owned fishing cooperative named after Lieutenant Schmidt was established in 1958 through the merger of several local cooperatives, some of which date back to 1928. This means the Schmidt cooperative is nearly a century old. While exploring the archives, Mr Artemenko discovered an old register that listed the co-op’s fishermen—some born as early as 1870—along with their families. So, for the members of the cooperative, the history of their enterprise is not just about its longevity; it’s also a story of the local community and the generations of fishermen who have contributed to its legacy.
Serving the domestic market
Mr Artemenko was appointed chairman of the cooperative in 1989 and has kept this position since then. In 2007, the state-owned cooperative—named after a historical figure, a Russian naval officer and revolutionary—became a private enterprise and it was decided to retain the historic name as a trademark.
Traditionally, the co-op caught Black Sea sprat (Clupeonella cultriventris) and anchovy in the Black and Azov Seas, round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), grass goby (Zosterisessor ophiocephalus),mullets (Mugilidae spp.), and big-scale sand smelt (Atherina boyeri) among others in the coastal areas and the estuaries of Tylihul and Berezan. The annual catch fluctuated between 5,000 and 6,000 tonnes, of which Azov catches were about 2,000 tonnes, The Black Sea catch reached 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes, and the rest was harvested in coastal zones. About half of the catch was anchovy, sprat was 10%, and the rest of the catch was mainly smelt. Frozen or processed fish was then sent to be sold locally in Kyrovograd, Cherkasy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia, and Poltava among others.

Before 2014, the co-op was on the top-5 list among other fishing enterprises in the area. The fleet included two large vessels—a seiner and a reefer with engine capacity of 300 hp and length of 27 meters each, 10 longboats, and five small fishing boats. The onshore processing facility produced 2.5 tonnes of smoked, salted, and dry-cured fish daily. The cooperative employed 20 full-time and up to 80 part-time fishermen, and 20 persons, mainly women, worked at the processing plant.
The annexation of Crimea made it impossible for the cooperative to fish in the Azov Sea as sailing through the Kerch Strait—the only waterway connecting the Black and Azov Seas—was blocked by Russia. The cooperative also lost its two largest vessels, the trawler and the reefer, in the port of Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The vessels were simply locked there and their current status is unknown.
Currently the cooperative owns 25 vessels, most of them undecked, made of wood or fiberglass, 4.5 to 12 meters long. About 90% of them switched from stationary diesels to outboard engines of 25 to 75 hp. The number of full-time fishermen is 15-18, and during the fishing season 60-70 part-time fishers are employed in addition.
Defence of the local community becomes an instant priority
From the very first days of the war, all the fishermen of the co-op took an active part in building defensive fortifications. Mr Artemenko, through his own network, got hold of 130 assault rifles and a few thousand cartridges to arm his fishermen and some members of the local community. Three armed groups were formed for a night patrol, each equipped with a thermal imager, to help the army’s surveillance.
In those days the army sometimes lacked supplies of food, equipment, and clothes. The local community provided as much support as possible—collecting funds and clothes, and serving food three times a day in three canteens: at the local school, recreation facility, and kindergarten.
To ensure the supply of drinking water, which is pumped from wells, for the local community, the cooperative bought three-phase power generators, and solved the problem of fuel shortages by simply buying fuel wherever possible and storing it in drums. In ways like this, the co-op has done what it could to help the community function normally under the conditions of wartime.
Problems pile on
While the challenges related to the defence of the area arrived quickly, the challenges to fishing activities have developed gradually. First, Russia’s occupation of the Kinburn Spit (the northeastern part of the Black Sea) in March 2022 caused the loss of the fishing grounds in the area. “Despite the loss,” explains Mr Artemenko, “during the first year of the war we were fishing at sea almost as usual, but then the conditions became more dangerous due to increased shelling and floating mines.” Destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023 washed into the Black Sea more mines, and additionally wreckage, garbage, and both dead and living animals. The latter were not left in the lurch: “We rescued a few dogs from floating garbage islands, and once even fished a cow! laughs Mr Artemenko, and all of them have survived.” Floating mines remain a major problem and have led to the closure of a 20-kilometer strip of the coastal zone.
Though coastal waters are now abundant with anchovies and rapa whelk (Rapana venosa), which the co-op started fishing about three years ago, the Lieutenant Schmidt cooperative had to switch completely to fishing in Tylihul and Berezan estuaries. Fishing in the estuaries generally is seasonal and allowed only during the autumn and winter months. These days, for safety reasons, any movement of civilians in 70% of the estuaries’ waters is banned, so the fishermen are not allowed to use fishing boats and can use only small-scale stationary uncovered pound nets (max height of three meters), fixed not further than 30 meters from shore. Major species harvested are gobies, Atherina, and mullets. Most of the catch is sent chilled on ice to the farmers markets in Odessa, while the rest is frozen and stored.
Importantly, the war has also impacted the salinity of the coastal waters, as well as the salinity in Berezan estuary: the water from the Dnieper River, which was previously used for irrigation and for the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, and also fed the Kakhovka reservoir, now flows straight to the Black Sea. The desalination affected the local species: the Black Sea shrimp (Pandalus latirostris) has almost disappeared from the area while freshwater species, roach (Rutilus heckelii) in particular, have become more abundant.
Human resources is another problem that the cooperative has faced: about 60% of its fishermen were drafted into the army, so the workforce is now represented by pensioners from 60 to 80 years old, and younger men who are unfit for military service for health reasons or are in the army’s reserve.
Can a war teach anyone anything?
“In challenging times like these, says Mr Artemenko, we truly get to know one another better—how we think, what we value, and how we cope with what’s happening around us. It’s a time to see people for who they really are. And through it all, we should be grateful that we’re alive, doing our best to work and survive. If you wake up in the morning with your eyes, hands, and legs still intact, that’s reason enough to be happy!”
The war has made Ukrainians fearless—they know they can die tomorrow but are not afraid of it any longer. Instead, they value a day-to-day life and enjoy all the good things it brings, things worth living for, and they do not postpone anything till tomorrow.
Aleksandra Petersen, Eurofish,
aleksandra@eurofish.dk