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The American Monarch Exposed, or
Outrage of Justice a la Primorian
(In the wake of the Primorye Fisheries Association press conference)
By Sergey Vakhrin,
Editor-in-Chief of the Northern Pacific Journal, and
President of the Northern Pacific Foundation,
an NGO dedicated to protecting marine ecosystems of the Northern Pacific.
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"One of the direct offshoots of foreign expansion in the field of fish harvesting, processing and sales is a knockdown level of tax revenues, collected throughout the entire fishing industry, compared to the volume of taxes levied in Primorskii Krai, which floated in between 3.1 % in 1996 and 4 % in first 8 months of 1998. According to 1997 results, none of the largest fishing enterprises hit the Top 15 Taxpayers List in Primorskii Krai".
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A scandal is kindling in Primorye. On February 22, 1999, the Fisheries Committee of the Primorskii Krai Administration adopted an unprecedented resolution to introduce the regional cup system at the pollack fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk :
So what is so unprecedented about it? Anyone familiar with what is going on every year at the roe pollack fishery in the Sea of Okhotsk would marvel little. What's happening is a familiar, sometimes reiterated tale - the cup systems in harvesting have been called up, while all regional systems of fishing quota distribution (Kamchatka, Primorye, Sakhalin, Magadan and Khabarovsk) have been called off. Every participant tries to snatch as much of the common Far Eastern Quota as he possibly can. The fishermen of Primorye have been the usual winners of the competition - as a rule they would be spry enough to use up their own quotas and reap some extra 2-300,000 or, on the higher side, up to 4-500,000 tons of the currency-intensive roe pollack.
Fishing Season 1999 started with the regions of Kamchatka and Sakhalin in first place, by finally achieving independence in disposing of their regional quotas. Moscow swore not to infringe upon their primordial, although always prejudiced, rights. And it indeed delivered on its promise.
The very unprecedented nature of the Fisheries Committee's decision lies in that it appeared to have been directed against the fishermen of Primorye. Small wonder the decision itself was KEPT SECRET from them.
Yes, it WAS. Let me quote:
The decision to redistribute the fishing quotas was made without the awareness of the Primorye Fisheries Council, which had earlier declared the cup system in fisheries pernicious.
The ships sailed out of Vladivostok to the fishing grounds in the Sea of Okhotsk, covering thousands of nautical miles, just to be kicked out of place to the hooting and whooping of their fellow countrymen, who had already glutted themselves on somebody else's quotas. Management personnel at the fishing companies' headquarters were suddenly perplexed - they tore up the contracts backed by million-dollar credits for the Okhotsk roe pollack quotas that were GUARANTEED by the STATE and the PRIMORYE FISHERIES COUNCIL.
DAL'MOREPRODUKT BROUGHT A DANISH SHIPYARD TO BANKRUPTCY
('Segodnya' Newspaper's version)
Vladivostok based Dal'moreproduct company (DMP) brought a Danish shipyard to bankruptcy. DMP, a Russian holding company located in Vladivostok, was the party to blame for bankruptsy of Orchus Floating Dock Shipyard based in the City of Orchus, Denmark, resulting in a 1000 of employees getting their notices of dismissal. The reefer carrier vessels amounting in value to approximately 750 million Danish krones (114 million American dollars), ordered by DMP and built by the shipyard remained unpaid. Today, the losses incurred by the shipyard are estimated at 450 million Danish krones (approximately 68 million American dollars).
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Here is another quotation: ) - were unlawfully deprived of their fishing quotas in the Sea of Okhotsk, totaling about 20,000 metric tons of pollack. ZAO Magellan lost 855 metric tons, with a direct loss valued at 10.5 million rubles. OOO Tatcher lost 1,075 metric tons, valued at 25 million rubles. And Primorye fisheries collectives lost correspondingly 14,000 metric tons and 54.5 million rubles.>
So what were the high-flown, statesmanlike and regional motives behind the Fisheries Committee's move? According to PFA, Committee Chairman Sidorov and Task Group Leader Ivanov were quoted as saying that upon redistributing the fishing quotas, the Committee proceeded from the necessity to eliminate downtime for the fishing fleet of Primorye while the quotas were still untapped.
But it seemed more like trying to play sly on the part of the Committee officers - the pollack expedition in the Sea of Okhotsk, in all its zones and sub-zones, was closed on April 26, that is, about two-and-a-half months after the above-mentioned, half-clandestine meeting.
By the date of the historic meeting, the pollack catches had reached a little over 260,000 tons out of 404,400 tons allocated in regional quotas. Then, the supertrawler fleet finished harvesting its part and was supposed to leave the grounds for the medium-size trawlers, which, quite naturally, even though they had been fishing since January, were taking their catches several times more slowly than the supertrawlers, and thus suffered the punishment - again,
Earlier, this kind of wording worked quite successfully - of course, the fishing fleet of Primorye could not afford the downtime while the common regional (Far Eastern) quota was still available, and the high tonnage fleet headed by the would assault the Sea of Okhotsk. But in 1999, the overly habitual and formerly bearable wording served to discriminated the fishing fleet of Primorye into some really Primorian and relatively Primorian strains.
Russian Flag Over Andromeda
('Rybak Primorya', Newspaper's version)
Here is a curious story of the Andromeda and other 6 reefer carriers built in Denmark on orders of DMP. Rybak Primorya Newspaper some time ago touched on the subject already. It started as early as in mid 90-s, when, backed by bank loans, ship building of scale unfolded creating new jobs for thousands of Danes. The projects were guaranteed by Danish Royal Fund. The ultra modern, state-of-the-art, automated and gracious vessels had been built eventually. However, they still could not get down to their designated business, transportation of fish products put out by DMP: 4 vessels were arrested (except for the Andromeda, which was suspended from operation nonetheless).
As it happened, for some political or economic reasons The Danish Royal Fund withdrew its guarantees (most probably fearing the Russian instability and its partner's insolvency, undermining the trust). Newly built beauties, as a result, could not fly the Russian flag and call in foreign ports. Then, a frantic effort was initiated to straighten things up. DMP executives displayed extraordinary thrust and strategic brainwork having gotten the largest shipping company on the globe, Lavinia, round to buy out these vessels and transfer them to DMP for operations on the condition that Lavinia would get a lion's share in operating profits, 80 %, while DMP would get 20 %. The proposal was well received, and the first of the reefer carriers showed up in Vladivostok.
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Who do you think is qualified as the according to the Primorian schedule of ranks? I believe you would not be far off the mark if you named among the first the notorious Dal'moreprodukt, with its fishing flagship, the American Monarch supertrawler, which in January had already switched from the lean Bering Sea to the fat Okhotsk pollack (filled with expensive roe), following the lead of the other supertrawlers owned by the American bosses of Dal'moreprodukt.
So what is the basis of the new discriminatory policy of the Fisheries Committee, the a la Primorian theory of segregating real citizens from the not-so-real?
We take the liberty of another quotation:
But that is an out-and-out lie, gentlemen. I would not name all of the organizations listed among the real, true Primorians - I think there are some really decent companies represented, such as BAMR of Nakhodka, toward whose President and management I harbor the best sympathy, hearing every so often about their wholehearted fights in the regional economical carnage, called in jest
I am talking directly about Dal'moreprodukt Holding Company. A few years ago, while gathering materials for the documentary, I found out (and it was recorded on video tape) that the tax indebtedness of Dal'morepodukt had reached amounts undreamed of by the entire fishing fleet of Primorye. That is the first thing. For the second - whom, which nation or country, does the true Primorian fishing company, Dal'moreprodukt, and its President and Camp Commander of the Ussuriiskii Cossack Troops Yuriy G. Didenko, serve today? I gave it much thought while listening to Yuriy Didenko say how wonderful Dal'moreprodukt and its President were, underfed and deprived of sleep in the name of Russian national interests. It appeared later that the true interests of Dal'moreprodukt lay and had nothing to do, for instance, with the interests of a teacher residing in, say, Ryazan or a physician practicing in Saratov - the hackneyed association Mr. Didenko has been so fond of mentioning every time he needs an additional piece of regional quota pie for crab or pollack.
Under the current situation, Dal'moreprodukt has not changed its spots the least bit: it still pays no taxes but receives additional quotas up to the gills, so to say, ravaging not only its regional neighbors, but its homefolk as well. But those are small guys compared to this FAR EASTERN MONSTER, which, according to its President's claims on the mass media, has maintained the best output indicators in Russia, fed the country with fish, and supported the public sector which lives off the state budget. All this is a bluff of pure water, myths and legends.
But these myths and legends were convincing enough to make the Fisheries Committee allocate real fish to Dal'moreprodukt, taking it from others, or better yet, TAKING IT FROM THOSE WHO OWE NOT ONE PENNY IN TAX DEBTS - the fishing companies of PFA named above. And look who is really concerned today about the economic revival of the fishing coast, by now leading a pitiful existence, thanks to the same monsters that left the coastal facilities, which survived on regular raw fish deliveries, to their fate. Again, these are the PFA members, by far the only ones implementing the small boat-building program aimed at developing the fishing coast.
So who, then, is the true patriot of Primorskii Krai and the Russian Far East?
This story that took place in Primorye seems to have no ending. It will not just repeat itself. It will have no alternative solution either, as long as there are currency-intensive resources like crab, roe pollack and sockeye salmon on one hand, and the impudent force of the monsters without match in Primorskii Krai on the other.
However, one more opinion does exist. One more quotation from Primorye's Fisherman newspaper: He also added that large quotas, allocated for fisheries collectives for harvesting of herring (not much in demand these days, to say the least - S.V.), to a good extent offset some of the problems with the pollack quotas (!!! - S.V.). Therefore, they have no charges against the Fisheries Committee up their sleeve. But here is a question: will it help quench the passions surrounding the fishing quota distribution? One can only hope it will. All the more so, since the new seasons and fishing quotas are yet ahead.
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