Date: Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Patrushev specially came to Kaliningrad to conduct research vessels to Africa. The expedition is for two years, ahead of marine scientists 18 countries. The goal is to discover new fishing areas. Svyatoslav Kudryashov told how Russian vessels were sent to another continent.
The ships are leaving to music. They are leaving for distant Africa. Here are these beauties, lined up one after another in the port. The sailing bark "Kruzenshtern" will leave first. "Atlantniro" and "Atlantis" will follow a little later. An event of national scale. That is why the Moscow guest Dmitry Patrushev, Deputy Prime Minister of the country, is in the role of the see-off person. And this does not surprise anyone.
Dmitry Patrushev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation: "This is, in fact, a unique event, since such studies have not been conducted in our country since the 1980s. The expedition will allow us to assess the reserves of water resources off the coast of Africa and discover new fishing areas."
Alexey Besprozvannykh, Acting Governor of the Kaliningrad Region: "This is certainly the beginning of a major research project and a significant event for the development of the fishing industry in our country. It is gratifying that a branch of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography is located in the Kaliningrad Region. The employees of this institute will take direct part in studying the bioreserves of aquatic bioresources."
Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco. And further down the list, which ends with Mauritius, Oman and Eritrea. The captain of the research vessel Dmitry Gorokhovich has been to almost all of these countries before. However, there have never been such long voyages. And such responsible people, too.
Dmitry Gorokhovich, captain of the vessel: "We measure the bioresources of a given country. Then we transmit the data. The institute processes the data. We personally provide navigation, precise measurements of measurement points, bioresources."
According to Ilya Shestakov, head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, Russian fishermen are currently catching about one hundred thousand tons of fish in African waters every year. He is convinced that after this trip to Africa, the volumes of catch will increase over time. And significantly.
Ilya Shestakov, head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries: “The scientific data you have obtained will become a significant factor in the development of fishing in African waters and strengthening the position of the Russian Federation not only in the research areas, but also in the world ocean as a whole.”
KALININGRAD, August 21. /TASS/. The research vessels Atlantis and Atlantiro of the Federal Agency for Fishery will begin a large African expedition that will continue until the beginning of 2026 in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans off the coasts of about 20 African countries. This was reported by the press service of the Federal Agency for Fishery.
"Two research vessels of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries (VNIRO, subordinate to the Federal Agency for Fishery) will set off on the expedition. The ceremonial farewell will take place on August 21 at the pier of the Kaliningrad Sea Fishing Port," the statement said.
The ceremony will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Patrushev, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov, and Acting Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Aleksey Besprozvannykh.
The Rosrybolovstvo expedition has acquired the status of a federal project, and its organization is supported by the country's leadership. "The mission of the Rosrybolovstvo research vessel expedition has outgrown its research goals. This is a new round of cooperation between Russia and the countries of the African continent in the field of fisheries - the basis for scientific and technical cooperation is being strengthened," the Rosrybolovstvo press service noted.
As reported to TASS by the press service of the Atlantic branch of VNIRO (AtlantNIRO), the research vessel "Atlantniro" will conduct research of marine bioresources in the zones of Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Angola. The research vessel "Atlantis" will carry out work in the sea waters of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Oman, Eritrea. The scientific group of each vessel will consist of 12 qualified scientists, specialists in the field of acoustic, oceanographic, hydrochemical, hydrobiological and ichthyological research. Scientists from coastal countries of Africa will also participate in the work, the press service clarified to TASS.
Given the duration of the expedition, crew and scientific group shifts are planned. In particular, two main scientific group shifts are planned on each vessel. A headquarters headed by Shestakov has been created to manage the expedition. Operational control and analysis of the results will be carried out by specialists from the Atlantic branch of VNIRO headed by its director Konstantin Bandurin.
Similar domestic expeditions have not yet been conducted, and world practice also does not know of such large-scale research, clarified the director of VNIRO, Doctor of Economics Kirill Kolonchin.
The expedition will provide important scientific data on Africa's fish resources, which will form the basis for rational stock management and open up new opportunities for the Russian fishing fleet, help expand exports of domestic fish products and strengthen Russia's geopolitical position on the African continent, Rosrybolovstvo notes.
