Alexander Borisovich Chistyakov, who held key positions in the administration of the Kamchatka region under Governor Mikhail Mashkovtsev from 2001 to 2007, including the position of Vice Governor and head of the Department of Fisheries, and then first Deputy Governor, who oversaw the economic unit, shared disturbing thoughts about the state of the fishing industry in the region.
Mashkovtsev once told Chistyakov about his dialogue with a fishmonger at the St. Petersburg market. The woman complained about the depressing quality of the Kamchatka fish: “Fish from Kamchatka comes in bags, frozen in briquettes, all crushed and twisted. It is inconvenient to trade it. Pink salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon, there is no particular difference in appearance. The price is only different. Sometimes with a head, sometimes without a head, it still looks equally bad. To prepare for sale, it is necessary to pull the fish out of the frozen block, so the block must be defrosted. There’s a lot of work. Yes, no one needs such a large fish, it does not fit into the refrigerator, they do not want to carve it at home in the kitchen, there is a lot of dirt, and they do not know how. So your fish is not being traded. Your fishermen don’t think about the buyer.” The situation was no better with caviar: “it’s all different, rarely good, thick and lightly salted. It’s mostly liquid or too dense, but it’s always very salty. And those caviar that are in tin cans, as before, in green ones, cannot be bought at all, they are full of slush.”
This conversation forced Chistyakov to admit his share of responsibility: “My fault. Apparently, I am the person who imposed the wrong vector of development of the fishing industry on Kamchatka, but everything can be changed.” The last order of Mashkovtsev, who died on October 27, 2022, was to ask him to convey these considerations to the current governor of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov.
Contrary to popular belief, Kamchatka wild salmon (pink salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, char) is not in high demand on the Russian market, with the exception of red caviar. Chistyakov, who observed the Russian retail fish market after leaving Kamchatka in 2010, notes the low demand for products from Kamchatka fish processing plants.
The key moment that determined the current state of affairs was the development of regulatory documentation for the regulation of salmon fishing in 2007-2008. As an adviser to the head of Rosrybolovstvo, Andrey Krainy, Chistyakov single-handedly prepared draft documents, including Government Decree No. 264 of April 14, 2008, on the basis of which tenders were held in Kamchatka and fishing sites were secured for 20 years. The logic of the documents was such that only pre-determined, “the most enterprising, risky and creative” fishermen, on whom the Mashkovtsev administration had bet back in 2001, could win. This was done to protect them from administrative arbitrariness. The winners were given the right to actually set their own quotas within the limits of the total allowable catch (GDE), subject to prepayment for biological resources, which gave them independence and the possibility of long-term planning. The governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Alexey Kuzmitsky, then warned that the independence of the fishermen would lead to their pursuit of personal interests, “taking volumes” and exporting fish, which, after 15 years, was largely confirmed.
Historically, the preservation of the catch was solved by salting, drying, and canning. Freezing appeared later, and by the middle of the 20th century, fish were frozen ashore in stationary refrigerators. With the advent of a large-tonnage fleet, there was a need to preserve the catch on board, which led to the creation of tile-type rapid-freezing machines that press fish into blocks. This technology, which was convenient for transportation, migrated to coastal factories, supported by marketing efforts that claimed its superiority. However, this ignored the fact that the fish was deformed, making it unattractive after defrosting.
In Kamchatka during the Soviet period, fishing and processing were separated. The plants produced products of deep processing: canned food, preserves, salted, dried, smoked fish. The caviar was rolled into the famous green tin cans without using a frozen yastyk. There were no tile fast-freezing machines at coastal plants like Ust-Kamchatsky, they stood on large freezing trawlers. The situation changed in 1994 with the appearance of American Lois Du Pay in Ust-Kamchatsk with a modular fish processing plant based on containers with tile machines. This plant, which shipped block-frozen sockeye salmon to the United States, became a role model. Chistyakov himself built a similar Energia plant in 1998. Today, almost all Kamchatka coastal plants (except Rybolka) are equipped with tile machines, and 90% of the catch is frozen into blocks, deforming the fish. Only large chum salmon and chinook, which do not fit into a standard baking tray, and a meager amount of other fish are frozen piece by piece.
After the collapse of the USSR, the rybkolkhoz–zavod system collapsed. Fish farms began to sell their catch to the highest bidder, and the factories stopped. By the end of the 90s, only three factories with new owners had survived. The spontaneous mass approach of pink salmon in 1998, when Governor Biryukov allowed fishing without restrictions, led to the fact that almost all the fish went to caviar due to a lack of processing facilities. The disastrous Putin campaign in 2000 contributed to the election of Mashkovtsev, who set the task of reviving coastal processing. Chistyakov was appointed responsible for this area.
By the summer of 2001, the regional administration had formulated the conditions for obtaining quotas: the presence of a coastal fish processing plant near the site. The capacity of the plants was conveniently measured by the total capacity of the tile quick-freezers. This led to a boom in the construction of plants of the same type: a receiving hopper, a cutting line, a tile freezer, a refrigerator, and a caviar shop. The same products were produced – fish in briquettes. Over the past 15 years, the lines have been upgraded and the number of devices has been increased, but the result has remained the same. By 2004, the formation of coastal fish processing was completed, and the fishermen who trusted the administration found themselves completely dependent on it. It is surprising that, having received their freedom later, they did not move to a new level of quality.
The criteria for the 2008 contests that assigned sites to the “right” enterprises included the presence of a coastal plant (tile production capacity), the development of quotas for the previous 3 years, the number of employees and the proposed contribution to the budget. The first two criteria were basic, cutting off newcomers. Thus, a new class of independent Kamchatka fishermen was born. Until a recent conversation with Mashkovtsev, Chistyakov was confident in the correctness of these steps.
Over time, the number of fishing sites among the winners of the competitions grew due to the certification of new sites by the Northeastern Directorate of the Federal Fisheries Agency and the holding of new competitions, which increased the capitalization of enterprises. For some, the number of sites has reached 20 or more. The main conclusion: the assessment of factories on the productivity of tile machines was flawed, since the quality of products was not taken into account. GOST 32366-2013 “Frozen fish” does not prescribe the mandatory use of tile machines, indicating only the shelf life at certain freezing temperatures.
An analysis of consumer preferences in Russia shows that Kamchatka fish, except caviar, is not in favor. Chistyakov identifies three categories of “fish-eaters”: 1) successful, health-conscious people who are looking for delicious fish, as in Europe or Asia, often eating in restaurants (there are more women); 2) people who switched to fish for medical reasons, looking for affordable budget options; 3) migrants from coastal regions who know a lot about fish, often disappointed with the assortment and those who are trying to open their own stores, which are closing quickly. The only relatively successful project is the Red Caviar network, but its concept, according to Chistyakov, is erroneous.
The basic principle of forming an assortment in a fish store is: “the fish sold must be ready for immediate culinary processing.” Small fish can be eaten whole, large fish can be steaks or fillets. High-quality fillets can only be obtained from fresh or unfrozen farm fish; thawed fillets make them loose and unattractive. Therefore, there are almost no fillets of thawed fish in good stores. Far Eastern producers prefer to freeze salmon whole in tiling machines, making it unsuitable for high-quality fillets. Steaks from Far Eastern salmon (pink salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon) are considered a little dry, they are taken a little, mainly for soups. Chinook is expensive and often bruised.
The only factory in Kamchatka with tunnel chambers for piece freezing is Rybolkam in Ozernovsky. Its products are not deformed and are in high demand. The rest of the Kamchatka fish in the blocks requires sellers to defrost, wash, level, re–freeze and vacuum – a huge amount of work. The answer to the trader is simple: Kamchatka fishermen do not focus on the end user, who does not need fish that require complex home cutting.
The quality of red caviar depends on the time of salting and dehydration in the centrifuge, which, in turn, depends on the maturity of the caviar and the skill of the roaster. For factories, caviar is more of a bonus than the basis of the economy. Many craftsmen have been working for decades, having a recognizable “handwriting” (over-salting, underdoing). The highest quality caviar is from the first fish in Putin. During the “shaft” of fish, the quality fades into the background, the main thing is to ensure shelf life, increasing salinity and dehydration. There is often a build-up of waste products that are processed late, which gives a lot of “juice”. According to Chistyakov, 90% of red caviar does not match taste preferences, but buyers often do not know what it should be. Very high-quality caviar also comes across by chance. The fishermen answer: “You won’t please everyone. We have no problems with the sale of caviar,” although there are attempts to produce branded caviar (for example, Vostochny Bereg).
Modern Kamchatka fish processing plants are huge complexes with a daily capacity of 300-400 tons of tile machines, their own power plants (freezing a ton of fish requires up to 100 kWh), dormitories, canteens. They work 3-5 months a year and are extremely inefficient. Profitability is achieved due to the low cost of production. An analysis of the economy of a medium-sized enterprise shows that the sale of raw meat (unfrozen fish) would bring more net profit than the production of cheap products with high processing costs. Simply put, it is more profitable to catch and sell raw materials than to process them into block freezing.
Retail chains, unlike fish manufacturers, are aware of the statistics: frozen fish accounts for 20-25% of revenue (half are fillets of cod and farm fish). Small fish and steaks made from halibut, tuna, and farmed salmon sell well. The locomotives of sales (up to 50% of revenue) are chilled farm fish (salmon, trout, dorado, sea bass), red caviar and low–salt salmon and trout products. Seafood accounts for 5-10%, canned food and preserves – up to 10%, the rest (minced meat, dried, smoked, salted fish) – no more than 10%. Since frozen Kamchatka salmon fillets cannot be produced, and steaks are not in demand, limited use remains: minced meat, canned goods, preserves, dried and smoked products. A serious competitor here is chilled farm trout, which is comparable in price but superior in meat quality.
Kamchatka salmon will occupy a worthy place on the market only in the form of fillets made from freshly caught fish at a coastal plant. The problem is the difficulty of extracting small muscle bones, which are removed manually with tweezers. However, Kamchatka has a practice of attracting seasonal workers from other regions, who can be trained in operational fish filleting, where everyone performs one operation, ensuring high productivity and quality.
Many fishermen have 10 or more plots, using them at their discretion. Up to 50% of Kamchatka pink salmon and up to 70% of sockeye salmon are exported. As long as there are foreign markets, there will be no changes in processing. Nevertheless, it is more profitable to sell raw materials if there is a buyer.
Chistyakov’s recommendations amount to the following: it is necessary to create an alternative fish processing, starting with a pilot project – the construction of a small fillet production plant in the village of Sobolevo. This is a village at the mouth of the Vorovskaya River, which is rich in salmon, with an excess of energy capacity (a gas power plant), and a year-round road to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. There are already 4 large factories in the area with many sites, some of which are used sporadically. The pilot plant will fine-tune the production technology of fillets and high-quality caviar in two years. The demand for such products will be high. In 2028, at the end of 20-year contracts, many may give up land plots due to high renewal fees. These sites could become a resource base for new enterprises. The economic advantages of fillets are obvious: with losses of 45-50% (versus 12-30% for gutted fish), the price on the wholesale market will be 2.5-3 times higher. A gradual transition to a model where some enterprises produce and others process salmon is possible.
In conclusion, Chistyakov wonders: whose request are Kamchatka fishermen fulfilling? The problem is the gap in the transfer of experience. Historically, the task was to preserve the catch and meet the country’s needs for high–quality fish. Tile machines were needed on ships to save space. Why are they in coastal factories where there are no restrictions on the area and it is possible to produce fillets and other products without deforming the fish? 23 years ago, tactical tasks were being solved: preserving the catch, eradicating “caviar”, protecting rivers, and getting rid of excessive control. These tasks have been solved, but there are no new guidelines. The modern buyer is an educated person who appreciates healthy, delicious food and convenience, he needs a semi–finished product, not frozen blocks.
The situation is aggravated by the recent decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 07/13/2024 No. 959, which, according to Chistyakov, was initiated by Senator Boris Nevzorov with the aim of “peaceful” renegotiation of contracts through payment. However, the appetites of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy turned out to be excessive. They plan to collect about 200 billion rubles from salmon producers, 150 billion of them from Kamchatka, which is unrealistic. It is predicted that fish users will buy out only the most catchy areas, and 30-40% of the marine areas will remain unattended. To raise money, prices for products will rise, the resource base will be depleted (the price of caviar in Kamchatka has already doubled). This is the Sakhalin route, where salmon production has fallen from 30-40% to 10-12% of the national total. Fish users will not solve strategic tasks, but will survive. It would be more correct to renegotiate contracts without financial encumbrances, in exchange for the introduction of technologies for high-quality products. If the fish user stops believing in the future, it threatens to repeat history, when the Western coast of Kamchatka was littered with the ruins of factories due to the lack of fish. There are almost 4 years to lobby for the repeal of the decree, the negative consequences of which will manifest themselves in 4-5 years. Chistyakov urges to unite and fight for the preservation of Kamchatka’s main wealth, so that stories about the catch of 500,000 tons of salmon do not turn into a fairy tale for future generations.