The fishermen demanded a proper assessment of the actions of RSkhN officials

Representatives of the fishing industry of the Far Eastern Federal District demanded a “cleansing” in the ranks of the territorial administration of Rosselkhoznadzor for Primorye and the Sakhalin region, complaining that officials “constantly create obstacles” to the registration of products from aquatic biological resources sent to the foreign market. The territorial department called the fishermen’s statements “another provocation” and called for a constructive dialogue. Analysts believe that even if the words of the fishermen are “divided by two,” the department’s actions cannot be called adequate and justified.

In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor Nikolai Vlasov held a meeting as part of an inspection of the territorial administration of Rosselkhoznadzor for the Primorsky Territory and the Sakhalin Region carried out by the central office. Let us recall that the appeal of Far Eastern fisheries to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance with a request to conduct an internal audit of the head of the territorial administration Sergei Dymov was sent in May by decision of the Far Eastern Scientific and Fisheries Council. The appeal noted that officials subordinate to Mr. Dymov create obstacles to the registration of products from aquatic biological resources sent to the foreign market. We are talking about difficulties in obtaining “health certificates” for products from aquatic biological resources sent abroad. Thus, the department refused to issue certificates for those batches of fish products that, at the time of submitting the application for a certificate, had already crossed the border of the Russian Federation (see Kommersant No. 88 of May 18, 2012). Then the head of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences obliged Primorye veterinarians to make a decision on issuing certificates within 24 hours and sent a commission to resolve this issue in detail.

However, the Far Eastern fishermen were not satisfied with the results of the inspection. At a meeting in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, they demanded to once again evaluate the quality of work of officials of the local territorial administration of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “A real assessment of the activities of the regional administration and its leadership has not been given. As it turned out, the delegation did not at all set out to check the actions of Mr. Dymov,” said Sergei Senko, chairman of the board of the Association “Union of Fishing Collective Farms and Enterprises of the Sakhalin Region.”

As Kommersant learned, businessmen demanded that Sergei Dymov, head of the territorial directorate of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, be removed from his post. Market participants believe that, in addition to the “red tape with health certificates,” there are enough reasons for this. Thus, the General Director of PKF South Kuril Fish Factory LLC Konstantin Korobkov recalled a case when “mistakes” of veterinary control cost the state very dearly. In January 2008, the Rosselkhoznadzor department for the Primorsky Territory seized more than 32 tons of salmon caviar belonging to the South Kuril Fish Processing Plant. While the products were “under lock and key”, their shelf life had expired. “We were forced to sell caviar for animal feed, losing a significant amount of money,” said Mr. Korobkov. Subsequently, the court declared the actions of the regional department of Rosselkhoznadzor to seize the products illegal. “A decision was made to collect 18.5 million rubles from the state treasury in favor of the plant, but not a single official was punished,” said the businessman.

The Rosselkhoznazor administration for the Primorsky Territory and Sakhalin Region called the statements of businessmen a “provocation.” “If the meeting in Primorye on the export of marine products within the framework of the inspection carried out by Moscow can still be called a dialogue, then on Sakhalin such a discussion of the substance of the issues, unfortunately, did not work out. This was not a constructive conversation, these were emotional accusations against the specialists of our department and management,” said assistant director for press relations Vitaly Salenko. In his opinion, the fishermen’s demands for the resignation of the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor department for the Primorsky Territory and the Sakhalin Region “are unlikely to be considered.” “We are now working on how to resolve the issue of certification of fishing products that have already gone abroad. For now, we are planning to introduce some kind of temporary procedure for Rosselkhoznadzor to carry out this activity that suits everyone. And then follow the path of changing legislation,” Mr. Salenko emphasized.

Experts consider the indignation and demands for the resignation of Sergei Dymov to be justified. “These are not isolated statements or opinions, this is a consolidated position of the community, which has been voiced more than once, and therefore cannot be ignored,” believes Elena Filatova, editor-in-chief of RIA Fishnews. In her opinion, even if the words (accusations against the department and its leadership) of the fishermen are “divided into two,” then the actions of the local RSKHN cannot be called adequate and justified. “There really are a lot of substantive complaints about the work of the employees of the RSKhN territorial directorate and its head. But in the end, they can all be reduced to one thing: businessmen are not allowed to quietly engage in legal business, constantly creating “ambiguous” situations, passing acts that hinder the work, and erecting ever new administrative barriers,” the expert believes. According to Ms. Filatova, business has ceased to understand how to work within the legal framework. “There is a need not to explain the acts, but to evaluate the work and actions of those who create this legal field,” the expert concluded.

Ksenia Pisareva

Dialogues on the fishing industry