Тhe campaign to stock water bodies has started - the first stage costs only UAH 4 million

In Ukraine, the stocking of reservoirs began with the funds that local budgets received from the special use of aquatic biological resources at auctions for the right to commercial fishing. As reported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the first large-scale measures to introduce young people to aquatic bioresources took place in Cherkasy Oblast. There, in accordance with the program for the development of fisheries in Cherkasy region's reservoirs and improvement of their ecological condition for 2023-2028, UAH 4 million has been allocated from the regional budget for the stocking of the Kremenchug Reservoir.

At the first stage, 134,000 largemouth bass with a total weight of 24 tons were released to the Kremenchug Reservoir in Cherkasy. A total of 370,000 fish are planned to be introduced into the reservoir. Currently, the Cherkasy Fish Protection Patrol of the State Fisheries Agency will patrol the stocking site in an enhanced mode until the fry disperse in the water area of ​​the reservoir. In 2025, it is planned to spend the money received from the increase in the starting price at the auction for the sale of the right to the special use of aquatic biological resources, for the introduction of aquatic biological resources into fishery water bodies.

By the way, in Ukraine, the work of new components of the Unified state electronic management system of the fishery industry "eRyba" has begun. As reported by the State Agency of Ukraine for the Development of Reclamation, Fisheries and Food Programs, such components as "E-Contract", "E-Permit", "E-Tag", "E-journal of accounting of the subject of fisheries", "Limits and quotas", "Handbooks" were developed with the aim of significantly simplifying the conduct of fishing business and optimizing the process of obtaining services in the field of fishing. From now on, fishery subjects will be able to conclude contracts for the right to special use of aquatic biological resources in fishery water bodies in electronic form, receive services related to obtaining a permit for the special use of aquatic biological resources in fishery water bodies online, keep accounting journals of fishing activities and issue receipts for accounting for extracted aquatic biological resources, as well as issue acts of acceptance and transfer of tags for marking fishing gear and submit a notification about the loss of a tag online.

It is believed that with the appearance of new electronic services in "eRyba", the process of obtaining services in the field of fisheries will become more transparent, convenient and fast. This will make life easier for entrepreneurs, because they will no longer have to spend time collecting paper documents and making personal visits to government agencies.

As for funds for development, since the beginning of the year alone, the amount of taxes paid for the use of aquatic biological resources has reached 54 million hryvnias thanks to auctions in Prozorro.Prodaži. After the start of auctions at "Prozoro. Sales" in 2023, when 24.5 thousand tons of fish were caught, they paid 101 million hryvnias in taxes for the use of aquatic biological resources. For comparison, entrepreneurs paid UAH 15.4 million in 2021, and UAH 13.4 million in 2022. In 2024, 71% of all lots have already been sold. The total amount to be received by local budgets is 54 million hryvnias. Especially many lots were sold in Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Odesa regions.

It should also be noted that obtaining a permit for commercial fishing outside of Ukraine has been simplified in Ukraine. For this purpose, the Government adopted a resolution on simplifying the procedure for entrepreneurs to obtain permit documentation for carrying out fishing activities outside the jurisdiction of Ukraine. Resolution No. 252 introduces a number of changes to the procedure for issuing fishing permits. In particular, it abolished the paper form and provided for the provision in electronic form of such documents as a permit for the special use of aquatic biological resources outside the jurisdiction of Ukraine, catch registration forms and confirmation of the origin of aquatic biological resources. This gives the entrepreneur the right to carry out operations with caught aquatic biological resources for export, re-export of imported, as well as export of processed imported fishing products.

It is worth noting that in Ukraine, according to the results of 2023, the indicators of industrial fishing increased by 20%, compared to the 2022 season. In the period from January to November 2023, fish catch indicators reached 8.16 thousand tons. In turn, for the entire year 2022, the corresponding result was 9.95 thousand tons. The increase in catch became possible thanks to the reform of the fishing industry, first of all, the simplification of the licensing system through the "eRyba" platform. An important role in this was also played by auctions for the right to engage in fishing, which are conducted through the electronic trading system "Prozorro. Sales".