There are currently between 3500 and 4000 vessels in the Russian fishing ports. According to Mr. Holod, most of these are used for catching cod, pollack and crab. There are not enough ships for catching far-eastern herring, flounder and fish from the Pacific Ocean, such as tuna. The reason for this, Mr. Holod said, is that there is not enough demand for these kinds of fish to be exported. He also said that Russia has completely lost its 'tuna' fleet. 'However tuna is a popular fish all over the world which lives in our waters and which our fishermen could catch,' he added.
The Russian fishing fleet consists of a variety of tuna boats. In the early eighties 10 large sized purse seiners ( abt 1600 M/T) of the " Rodina " type were built in Poland for the Russian government. During the nineties 10 tuna seiners were built in Spain on " bare boat charter" terms. Together with tuna boats ships built by domestic shipyards the entire Russian tuna fleet consisted out of 40 vessels. Recently some new study projects have been launched to revive the Russian tuna fleet. A main problem remains the lack of fishing licenses available to the Russian fleet.
In Mr. Holod's opinion the State Fishery Committee should try to improve this situation by developing those areas which are now in crisis. Furthermore, Mr. Holod said that port formalities need to be simplified, customs regulations need improving as does the system of fish-processing.