State nature reserve to be created in Caspian Sea to conserve seal population

The fisheries sector is one of the most important areas in the economy as a basis for economic growth and employment. The main activities in the fisheries sector are fishing and fish farming. The Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, Serikkali Brekeshev, said this at the Government session. 

As the head of the Ministry of Ecology reported, the structure of the fish products market for 10 months of 2022 is as follows: 42.6 thousand tons were caught, 14.1 thousand tons were grown, 16 thousand tons were exported, and 32 thousand tons were imported. 

"The point of growth in the development of the fishing industry is precisely fish farming. With this in mind, the Government adopted the Fisheries Development Program in April 2021. As a result, by 2030 it is planned to grow up to 270 thousand tons of fish per year, increase domestic consumption of fish products to 134 thousand tons per year, reduce the volume of imports from 45 to 25 thousand tons," Brekeshev said. 

In order to achieve these indicators, favourable conditions for business are being created across the country: 

first, is the expansion of state support measures in the form of subsidies for production and investment costs;

second, is simplification of conversion of fishery reservoirs used for fisheries to fish farming;

third, limitations on the location of fish farms in water protection zones have been lifted;

fourth, it is possible to build fish ponds without a design documentation and state expertise, but only on the basis of draft designs.

Thanks to these and other adopted measures, the business activity of business entities has increased. Thus, compared to 2020, the number of fish farms has doubled and reached 380. The volume of farmed fish has also increased from 3 to 15 thousand tons per year in the last 5 years. In general, it is planned to create more than one thousand new farms, of which today 47 are the largest with a total investment of about 150 billion tenge.

"Additional measures of state support will be worked out in accordance with the instruction of Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich given during the meeting with the population of Almaty and Atyrau regions," the Minister added.

In turn, the legal basis for creating favourable conditions for business will be set out in the draft law "On Aquaculture," the concept of which was approved by the IMC in September this year. The bill is to be submitted to parliament in November 2023. 

Also Serikkali Brekeshev briefly reported on the preliminary results of the program for the current year.

So, for 10 months fishermen produced more than 14 thousand tons of fish at plan of 22,6 thousand tons. In this case, there are deviations from the indicators for Almaty, Karaganda and Atyrau regions.

In general, to achieve the programme's indicators, akimats need to intensify their support for business initiatives. In this aspect, provision of state support from the local budget is important. In this regard, in 2022, akimats envisage 401 million tenge or 17% of the programme's target indicators for subsidising. 

In order to perform obligations on business support by the state, akimats are required to provide funds in appropriate amounts every year.

Then the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources moved on to issues of fishery development. Thus, today more than 1,600 water bodies are allocated to 1,200 subjects, and more than 12 thousand people are engaged in fishery.

At the same time 72 enterprises are involved in fish processing, 17 of them meet high requirements and have got the right to export fish production to the European Union countries, the rest are oriented to the home market and near and far abroad countries.

"In order to support domestic producers, the draft law "On Amendments to the Tax Code" provides for a 70% reduction in VAT for entities engaged in commercial fishing. The bill was adopted by Parliament and sent to the Head of State for signing," Brekeshev said. 

There are also plans to introduce subsidies for deep-processed fish products. An amendment to this effect is envisaged in the draft law on doing business.

In order to increase the volume of deep processing that will allow to create additional jobs and expand the taxable base, the Head of State instructed to make a proposal to introduce restrictions on the export of unprocessed fish. In this regard, an analysis is being conducted jointly with the business to come up with a balanced decision.

In addition, measures are being taken to preserve natural fish resources. First of all, it is the fight against poaching, which the Head of State instructed to strengthen, especially in the Zhaiyk-Caspian basin.

"In pursuance of this instruction we have planned additional measures. It is about retrofitting fishing inspections with modern equipment and machinery, increasing the efficiency of cooperation between environmental bodies and toughening accountability for illegal fishing. We are also working on toughening responsibility for poaching within the frames of the draft Code of Administrative Offences (to be introduced to the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the 1st half of 2023)," the Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources said. 

In addition, in order to reduce shadow turnover, an information system for fish product traceability is being developed. There are plans to integrate the systems of veterinary, customs and other interested state bodies involved in issuing documents confirming the legality of the origin of fish products. 

Along with protection measures, annual measures are taken to reproduce the fish resources of natural water bodies. There are two state-owned sturgeon factories operating in Atyrau region. However, their production base is worn out, which requires reconstruction and modernization. The President pointed out this problem and instructed to take the necessary measures.

An investment proposal is being prepared which is to be submitted to the Ministry of Economy in the first quarter of 2023. In order to speed up the process, the reconstruction of the factory is suggested to be included in the list of budgetary investment projects which do not require a feasibility study. This would save budgetary funds and reduce the project implementation timeframe. In general, this issue is supported by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, which is the developer of the Government decree.

Measures are also being taken to create conditions for the natural spawning of fish. Thus, in pursuance of the order of the Head of State, the estuaries of the Zhaiyk and Kigash rivers are being deepened. In 2022, 3 billion tenge is allocated for these purposes, and since September, 32 km of deepening of the bottom of fish-passing channels has been carried out. In 2023, 3 billion tenge has been allocated.

At the same time, the issue of dredging navigable waterways remains relevant. The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development plans to allocate funds as part of the first revision of the national budget for 2023.

At the same time, the issues of preserving the Caspian seal population are important. Work is underway to create a state nature reserve on the Caspian Sea in the framework of the President's instruction. Today a Natural Science Feasibility Study (NSF) is being developed, which we plan to receive in January 2023 and then proceed with the feasibility study. 

In pursuance of instructions of the Head of State on issues of fisheries and in connection with the creation of new areas, it is necessary to make adjustments to the Programme for Development of Fisheries and to update indicators taking into account the current situation on low water and the situation in world markets.

"We will carry out this work together with representatives of business and science. After coordination with the state agencies, the corresponding draft government decree will be introduced in the second quarter of next year," Brekeshev said.

According to him, a set of measures will help attract investment, ensure growth of production and exports of fish products, create new jobs and increase the level of fish consumption by the population. To achieve this, the following measures are required:

First. The Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry to speed up the integration of information system for traceability of fish and fish products with systems of veterinary, customs and other interested state bodies.

Second. The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development should elaborate the issue of dredging of navigation canals of the Zhayik-Caspian Basin to ensure the passage of fishing vessels.

Third. The Ministry of Agriculture should take all necessary measures to ensure veterinary safety in fish farming.

Fourth. The regional akimats shall annually allocate funds in the local budget to subsidize subjects of aquaculture not less than the volumes indicated in the programme, to strengthen work on attraction of investments to the sphere of fishery, and also to provide land plots for creation of fish farms, including for creation of specialized trade objects on sale of fish products.

"In its turn, the Ministry of Ecology will continue coordination of issues on implementation of the Fishery Development Programme till 2030 and will take measures on timely and qualitative execution of the President's instructions given during the meeting with population of Almaty, Mangistau and Atyrau regions on fishery development," Serikkali Brekeshev said in conclusion.

Akim of Almaty region Marat Sultangaziyev during his speech reported that in accordance with the Fisheries Development Programme for 2021-2030, the main target indicators for Almaty region are achieving aquaculture production volumes from 3.7 thousand tons (2021) to 25 thousand tons by 2030.

"In order to achieve these volumes in Almaty region by 2026 it is planned to implement 12 projects worth 80.5 billion tenge with total capacity of 15.5 thousand tonnes of commercial fish with creation of 397 new jobs," the Head of the region said.

In 11 months of the current year 10 fishery entities of Almaty region produced 3382 tons of marketable fish.

According to akim, one of the reasons of falling behind the plan this year is that one of the largest fish farms in the region "Kaz Organic Product" LLP with production capacity of 4000 tons of African catfish has reduced demand for this type of fish and in this connection decided to rearrange production from clary catfish to trout.

The unstable situation on the Russian market, as the main components and equipment for fish farms are imported from Russia, has also had an impact. As a result, the start-up of a number of farms has been delayed or postponed until next year.

Regarding export volumes, 3,712 tonnes of fish and fish products were shipped to foreign markets in the first 11 months of 2022.

For the purpose of state support on development of fish farming for the current year 70,0 million tenge was allocated from the local budget for subsidizing. To date, this amount has been fully disbursed on 17 applications submitted on the Qoldau portal.

For 2023 the volume of subsidizing will be doubled up to 150,0 million tenge from the local budget in order to provide state support to fishery farms. It is planned to allocate the amount of 500 million tenge from the republican budget to reimburse the costs of investment.

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