A GOOD CLIMATE FOR FISHING IN THE NORTH

Georgy TISHKOV,

President of AO Sevryba

Sevryba, a closed joint-stock company uniting fishing firms throughout northwestern Russia, was founded in 1992. The 33 independent firms from the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts and the Republic of Karelia that make up Sevryba's shareholders produce over 25 percent of the fish consumed in the Russian Federation. The company's main goals are to work out a development strategy for the fishing industry, to coordinate the activities of fishing companies in the northern basin and to assist the industry's suppliers.

The current structure of the fishing industry in the northern basin took shape during the process of centralized economic transformations and privatization at the end of 1992, when Sevryba was founded and most firms in the industry were privatized. By April 1993 virtually every fishing firm in the region had become a Sevryba stockholder. Local State Property Committee offices also acquired a share, giving the government a 15-percent interest in the company.

The fishing enterprises of the northern basin form a single pro­duction chain with four major sub­divisions:

First there are the actual fishing firms: AO Murmansk Trawler Fleet, AO Murmanrybprom (Murmansk Fishing), AO Arkhangelsk Trawling Fleet, Karelrybflot (Karelia Fishing Fleet), the Union of Fishermen of the North, and others.

Second there are fish process­ing enterprises: AO Briz, AO Arctic Fish, AO Color Fish, AO Protein, AO Northern Palmyra, and Polaris.

Third there are the support compa­nies: AO Sevrybkholodf lot (Northern Refrigerated Fishing Fleet), AO Murmansk Fish Port, Murmansk Shipyard, AO Fabrika Orudy Lova (Fishing Equipment Factory), TOO Tarny Kombinat (Packing Facilities), AO Sevrybobyt, and others.

Fourth, there are research, fore casting, and design bureaus: the Polar Marine Research Institute Sevrybpromrazvedka (Northern Fishing Tracking), Complex System; JSC, Sevrybtekhtsentr (Scientific and Production Amalgamation), and Sevgiprorybflot.

In 1994 Sevryba affiliates had a combined catch of 564,40C tonnes and produced 448,30C tonnes of seafood.

The annual catch is projected at 668,900 tonnes. Sea­food output is expected to be 530,000 tonnes. Roughly 90 per­cent of all production is carried out at sea aboard Sevryba's 240 ships operating in the Northeast Atlantic, the Northwest Atlantic, the East-Central Atlantic, and the Southeast Atlantic. Every year a significant portion of the refriger­ated and frozen seafood produced by Sevryba is exported to Norway, Denmark, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and a number of other countries.

As part of Fish-2010, the fed­eral plan for the development of the fishing industry, a program for the thoroughgoing modernization and renovation of the fishing industry in the northern basin has been worked out. Implementation of the program will allow the north­ern fishing industry to develop suc­cessfully in the market economy without state subsidies.

In keeping with the program, the first of a new generation of trawlers was built and put into ser­vice. The results have already demonstrated the utility of the program. Preparatory work is being completed for the construc­tion of 10 more modern trawlers; six will be built in Germany, and four in Denmark. They will be used by Murmansk Trawling Fleet and other firms.

In addition to ships, the pro­gram also calls for significant ren­ovations in onshore processing plants and infrastructure.

Exercise 2.Answer the following questions:

1. What kind of company is Ыумкниф,

2. When was it founded?

3. What are the main goals of the company?

4. What is the current structure of the company?

5. What is the annual catch of fish?

6. What is the seafood output?

7. What does a program for the thoroughgoing modernization and renovation of the fishing industry in the northern basin include?

TEXT 3

Exertcise 1. Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary:

SMALL BUSINESS IN THE FISHING INDUSTRY

Vladimir GORSHECHNIKOV,

President of the Fishery Industrial Association

The development program of the Russian Fishery Industrial Association (RFIA) calls for the catch, processing and sale of seafood (including canned seafood) to be increased by a factor of 1.8 between 1995 and 2010. Receipts should increase by a factor of 1.9 in the same period. Between 1996 and 2010, $215 million should be invested in stock and equipment, of which $160 million should go to the fishing fleet.

The Russian Fishing Industry Association (RFIA), a private-sec­tor organization active in our country, has assisted in the devel­opment of small business in the fishing industry. Forced like the rest of the economy to move toward a free market system, the region expe­rienced the rapid formation of new corporate structures with differing mixes of state and private own­ership. Over 1,000 such enter­prises and organizations exist today.

Instability was rampant, but the newly-minted businessmen were desperate to work and live like nor­mal people. They quickly saw that their only hope lay in setting up an organization capable of solving the host of problems besetting them.

The founding conference of the RFIA was held in March 2009. Three months later the Association was officially registered. It was based on the TINAR research and production firm, which specialized in adapting technology to the needs of the industry. This con­cept was central to the work of the Association.

Originally comprising 36 mem­bers, the SFIA now includes 111 private, semi-private, and state-owned firms representing small and medium-sized business in the Sakhalin oblast.

The RFIA is recognized by all levels of government. The State Fisheries Committee has provid­ed invaluable support.

As president of the SFIA, I am a member of the Fishing Council of the Sakhalin oblast. The Council makes recommendations on quo­tas for dividing the catch among fishing enterprises. I am also co-chairman of the governor's board of directors, which oversees fishing in the Sakhalin oblast.

We see clearly that small and medium-sized business could play a key economic role in the Sakhalin fishing industry as it moves to a market-based system. To raise the effectiveness of small business, two problems must be solved. First, the bulk of activity in the industry must to be shifted from commerce to production. Second, the state needs to pro­vide real support for business.

This support should take the form, first and foremost, of a leg­islative framework within which all types of business may take root and flourish without hindrance. Other necessary measures include assistance in the development of a market infrastructure (wholesale markets, retail outlets, exchanges), and a financial infrastructure (banks, insurance companies, investment funds, etc.) aimed at small and medium-sized business. Also important are the implemen­tation of more favorable policies on taxation, lending, and price control.

But these goals cannot be realized without a reorganization of the national fisheries manage­ment system. Restoring relations does not mean recreating the old system, but shifting to a qualita­tively new structure, namely a sys­tem where decisions affecting the industry are worked out and imple­mented with the help of the SFIA. This will require the creation and development of adequate market relations in every aspect of the industry: legislative and legal bases; domestic and foreign trade, including futures operations; finance, including lending and mortgaging; securities; equipment and technology; entrepreneurial support; social development; and personnel.

Exercise 2.Answer the following questions:

1. What is the sphere of activities of the Russian Fishing Industry Association?

2. How many fishing organizatons of small business exist nowadays in our region?

3. What role can play small and medium-sized business?

4. What support for small business is provided by the Assciation?

5. Why should the reorganization of the whole system be done?

TEXT2

Exertcise 1. Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary: