Aquaculture in the structure of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation: the current state of legal regulation

Semenova Irina Vladimirovna Junior Researcher; Department of Environmental, Land and Agrarian Law; Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences 10 Znamenka str., Moscow, 119019, Russia ssem.irina@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The development of domestic aquaculture began relatively recently. In 2007, S.I. Nikonorov and V.I. Ananyev noted that despite the accelerated development of aquaculture worldwide, its role in Russia was insignificant at that time. Scientists identified the following reasons for the insufficient development of this industry in the time period they were considering: the lack of a modern regulatory framework in the field of aquaculture, insufficient state support for fish farms and scientific organizations serving them, insufficiently developed aquaculture technologies, and others ^{[1, p. 33]}. For a long time, this type of activity has played a secondary role in the Russian fisheries sector. However, at the moment, the importance of fish farming is increasing.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's 2024 State of Global Fisheries and Aquaculture report, aquaculture can meet the growing global demand for food products produced from aquatic biological resources. In 2022, global aquaculture production reached 130.9 million tons, accounting for 59% of global fisheries and aquaculture production (FAO. 2024. The state of global fisheries and aquaculture – 2024. The "Blue Transformation" in action. Rome. [electronic resource]. URL: https://doi.org/10.4060/cd0683ru. (date of access: 11/19/2024)). Commercial aquaculture production in Russia has more than doubled in 10 years, from 186,000 tons in 2013 to 402,000 tons in 2023. According to the head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries (hereinafter – Rosrybolovstvo), aquaculture is currently one of the important components of the fishing industry. In the period from 2013 to 2023, there was a positive growth trend in the field of aquaculture, up to 10% per year. (Ilya Shestakov: The production of commercial aquaculture has doubled in 10 years, it is important that there is a progressive trend – by 2030 it should reach a volume of 600 thousand tons // Official website of the Federal Agency for Fisheries [Electronic resource]. URL: https://fish.gov.ru/news/2024/03/01/ilya-shestakov-proizvodstvo-tovarnoj-akvakultury-za-10-let-vyroslo-v-dva-raza-vazhno-chto-est-postupatelnaya-dinamika-k-2030-godu-dolzhny-vyjti-na-obem-v-600-tys-tonn/?ysclid=m3sn0z1k5z413045750 (accessed: 11/22/2024)).

Federal Law No. 148-FZ of July 2, 2013 "On Aquaculture (Fish Farming) and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" (Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2013. No. 27, art. 3440) (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Aquaculture), which entered into force on January 1, 2014, became the basis for the formation of a new legal regulation of domestic aquaculture. According to this law, aquaculture (fish farming) refers to activities related to the breeding and (or) maintenance, cultivation of aquaculture facilities. The objects of aquaculture are aquatic organisms, the breeding and (or) maintenance of which are carried out in an artificially created habitat (art. 1). It is necessary to identify the difference between the concepts of "aquaculture objects" and "aquatic biological resources". The fundamental difference lies in the fact that aquatic biological resources include organisms in a state of natural freedom, while aquaculture facilities are bred, maintained or grown in an artificially created habitat (which means, as defined by the Law on Aquaculture, water facilities structures where the breeding, maintenance, cultivation of aquaculture facilities are carried out with using special devices or technologies), under human control. In addition, when defining aquatic biological resources, Federal Law No. 166-FZ of December 20, 2004 "On Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources" (Federal Law No. 52 (Part I). 5270) (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Fisheries) specifies an open list of organisms related to them.: fish, aquatic invertebrates, aquatic mammals, algae, and other aquatic animals and plants. At the same time, the concept of "aquaculture objects" contains a more general provision – aquatic organisms.

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that aquatic biological resources are generally federally owned (with the exception of biological resources that live in ponds, flooded quarries – they may also be owned by subjects of the Russian Federation, municipal and private property). Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs have the right of ownership to the aquatic biological resources they have extracted (removed from their habitat) in accordance with the established procedure. While aquaculture facilities are owned by fish farms (with the exception of cases of pasture aquaculture in relation to anadromous fish species). As noted by A.A. Strantsov, aquaculture products are a full-fledged object of civil rights in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and aquatic biological resources are involved in civil turnover in accordance with the procedure established by natural resource legislation ^{[2, p. 208]}.

The legal regulation of relations in the field of aquaculture is based on regulatory legal acts of various levels.

First of all, this is the Law on Aquaculture, which regulates the basics of fish farming, while covering not only commercial aquaculture as a type of agricultural activity, but also refers to aquaculture in order to conserve aquatic biological resources. In addition, an important act is the Law on Fisheries, despite certain differences in the objects of regulation ^[3]. In particular, this law establishes fisheries basins within which fish farming areas are defined (Article 4 of the Law on Aquaculture), defines the procedure for fishing for aquaculture purposes (Article 23), etc. As noted by E.L. Minina, the Law on Aquaculture is close in content to the legislation on fisheries. Despite the fact that fishing is the extraction of natural resources, rather than agricultural production, they are united with fish farming by common goals of activities aimed at providing the population with food products as part of the development of the country's fisheries complex ^{[4, p. 78]}. Provisions regulating certain aspects of legal regulation in the field of aquaculture are also contained in other federal laws – the Land Code of the Russian Federation (SZ RF. 2001. № 44. Art. 4147, 4148), the Water Code of the Russian Federation (SZ RF. 2006. № 23. With T. 2380-2381), the Forest Code of the Russian Federation (Federal Law of the Russian Federation, 2006, No. 50, Article 5278), Federal Law of August 3, 2018, No. 280-FZ "On Organic Products and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" (Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2018. No. 32 (Part I) of Article 5073), Federal Law No. 473-FZ dated December 29, 2014 "On Territories of Advanced Development in the Russian Federation" (Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2015. No. 1 (part I). From vol. 26) and others. Other legal acts regulating relations in the field of aquaculture include the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, and resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation (for example, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 675 dated July 21, 2014 "On the Specifics of the Creation, Operation, and Use of Installations, Structures, and Artificial Islands for Aquaculture (Fish Farming) Purposes" // Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2014. No. 30 (part II) Art. 4313), regulatory legal acts of federal executive authorities (for example, the Order of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation dated 10.11.2014 No. 437 "On approval of the Procedure for fishing for aquaculture (fish farming)" // Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 2014. No. 293.), regulatory legal acts of the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local governments.

In accordance with article 11 of the Law on Aquaculture, aquaculture related to agricultural production (commercial aquaculture) is distinguished, as well as aquaculture related to the conservation of aquatic biological resources, including acclimatization and artificial reproduction of aquatic biological resources.

Commercial aquaculture is a type of entrepreneurial activity related to agricultural production. According to the Law on Aquaculture, there are 3 types of commercial fish farming: pasture, industrial and pond aquaculture. The implementation of these types of fish farming has its own specifics, which is also reflected in the legislation. For example, unlike industrial and pond aquaculture, pasture-based fish farming requires a fish hatchery. It is also worth paying special attention to aquaculture, which is related to the conservation of aquatic biological resources. Its legal regulation is mostly carried out by the provisions of the Law on Fisheries. At the same time, it is important to note that article 1 of the Law on Aquaculture identifies two objectives of this regulatory legal act: ensuring the production of fish and other aquaculture products and the conservation of aquatic biological resources.

Artificial reproduction includes the formation, maintenance and operation of repair and brood herds in order to preserve aquatic biological resources, as well as the cultivation of juveniles (larvae) of aquatic biological resources with their subsequent release into water bodies of fisheries importance. And the acclimatization of aquatic biological resources is an activity aimed at introducing their valuable species into water bodies of fisheries importance, in which they had not previously inhabited or lost their importance, and creating stable populations of these species in them. As N.S. Kudelkin rightly notes, the essence of acclimatization is to increase the biological productivity of a water body in order to improve the efficiency of fishing ^{[5, p. 117]}. Compared to artificial reproduction of aquatic biological resources, acclimatization also involves the introduction of adults, not just the release of larvae and juveniles. Thus, aquaculture is not only associated with the breeding, maintenance or cultivation of aquaculture facilities suitable for consumption, but is also aimed at preserving and increasing the number of populations of aquatic biological resources.

As we noted earlier, the field of aquaculture in the Russian fisheries sector is quite young. However, the prospects for its development have favorable trends both for the food security of our country and for its economy. In order to establish sustainable fish farming in the Russian Federation and encourage fish farms to carry out the activities under consideration, the state's policy is aimed at supporting aquaculture. Supporting entrepreneurial initiatives by providing various measures of state support is the main priority of our state in this area ^{[6, p. 79]}. At the moment, there are certain measures of state support in the matter under consideration, implemented both at the federal and regional levels. Here are some examples. For example, at the federal level, according to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 5, 2024, No. 222-r (Federal Law of the Russian Federation. 2024. No. 8. Art. 1144), 20 billion rubles were allocated to support the program of preferential loans to agricultural producers, including aquaculture enterprises. Funds from the federal budget are allocated to subsidize preferential investment (up to 15 years) or short—term loans (up to 2 years), at a reduced rate, which are provided, among other things, to producers of commercial aquaculture (The Government will support farmers and fish farmers with preferential loans - 20 billion rubles will be allocated for these purposes // Official website of the Federal Agency for Fisheries [Electronic resource]. URL: https://moktu.fish.gov.ru/press/news/Pravitelstvo_poddergit_lgotnymi_kreditami_agrariev_i_rybovodov_-_na_eti_tseli_budet_napravleno_20_mlrd_rubley / (date of access: 11/22/2024)). As an example of regional support measures, we can cite the Decree of the Government of the Komi Republic dated October 31, 2019 No. 525 "On the State Program of the Komi Republic "Development of Agriculture and Regulation of agricultural products, raw materials and Food Markets, development of the fisheries complex" (Online publication "List of legal acts adopted by state authorities of the Komi Republic, other official information" http://www.law.rkomi.ru , 31.10.2019). In accordance with Annex 1.6 to it, the procedure for granting subsidies to support commercial aquaculture is determined. This procedure is the reimbursement of part of the costs of the recipients of subsidies from the republican budget of the Komi Republic in the following areas::

- reimbursement of part of the cost of purchasing fish feed;

- reimbursement of part of the cost of purchasing fish planting material;

- reimbursement of part of the cost of paying the insurance premium accrued under the insurance contract.

The Law on Aquaculture has been in force for almost 11 years. During this period, various regulatory legal acts have been adopted aimed at improving legal regulation in the field of aquaculture. However, in the context of global global changes ^{[7, p. 151]}, any sphere almost always needs to be improved and measures taken to meet modern problems and challenges. The field of economic activity we are considering is no exception. On October 31, 2024, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation held parliamentary hearings on the topic "Problems and prospects of aquaculture development in Russia". In the framework of which the main problematic aspects of aquaculture that require legislative decision-making were considered, as well as the main directions for improving and developing this economic activity were outlined. After analyzing the materials of these parliamentary hearings, we have identified the following most pressing issues in the field of aquaculture. Firstly, these are certain aspects of regulating the turnover of fish farming areas. So, in particular, as noted by the deputy head of Rosrybolovstvo V.I. Sokolov, the term of their provision is quite long – 20 years (most often). During this period, the fish farming area may be affected by significant changes, including the impact of climate change. Fish farms often need to change the boundaries of the plots provided to them in order to effectively conduct their activities. However, this is not possible under current legislation, since borders are an essential condition of the contract for the use of the fish farming area and their modification is prohibited. Secondly, the problem of providing aquaculture enterprises with feed and planting material. This issue is aggravated by the sanctions pressure on our country, since most of the feed has been imported for a long time. Currently, domestic feed is being developed, but it is complicated by the unstable quality of the main ingredient, fishmeal. Even a slight deterioration makes the produced product unsuitable for feeding, which leads to the impracticability of a complete transition of fish farms to Russian feed. Thirdly, the issue of agricultural insurance with state support in the field of aquaculture. At the moment, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has decided to extend the so–called CAPEX from 2023 - reimbursement of part of the costs incurred for the construction of fish feed production plants. In addition, a draft resolution has been developed, according to which this measure applies to the production of planting material.

It was also noted that there is no tendency to improve the indicators of growing aquaculture facilities in 2024, and some indicators are even characterized by a decrease. This is mainly due to changes in climatic conditions, as well as the poor quality of the planting material. At the same time, the main modern method of reducing these risks was considered – commercial aquaculture in closed-loop water supply installations. Despite the high initial investment level and difficulties with feed for aquaculture facilities bred in this way, significant advantages are noted – the ability to create controlled ideal conditions for fish growth, minimal likelihood of diseases, and absence of dependence on climate change. The replacement of fishmeal in the feed with a more stable haprin in terms of quality characteristics, and the development of aquaculture using genetics and breeding were also identified as promising areas for the development of aquaculture.

As noted by E.S. Katz, Head of the Department of Regulation in the Field of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Fish Farming) of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, domestic aquaculture is currently at the next stage of development, which includes understanding and evaluating the measures taken so far (Transcript of the parliamentary hearings on "Problems and prospects of aquaculture development in Russia Of the Russian Federation" (October 31, 2024) // Official website of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation [Electronic resource]. URL: http://council.gov.ru/activity/activities/parliamentary/161778 / (date of access: 11/22/2024)).

It is important that the development of Russian aquaculture is important not only for solving the food problem, it is also a source of new jobs, increases the well-being of the population, and helps reduce the number of cases of illegal extraction of aquatic biological resources ^{[12, p. 112]}. However, there are also a number of environmental risks and challenges in the field of aquaculture. If fisheries violate waste management requirements or use feed that does not meet established standards, aquaculture products can cause damage to both the environment and consumers of these products. Moreover, there are certain risks associated with the violation of the natural ecosystem of reservoirs by aquaculture facilities. For example, in February 2024, about 300 tons of rainbow trout sailed from cages cut by ice from an enterprise in the Leningrad Region (As fishermen caught 300 tons of trout that accidentally sailed into Lake Ladoga from a fish farm // KP.RU [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.spb.kp.ru/https://www.spb.kp.ru/daily/27573/4897138 / (date of access: 11/22/2024)). Such uncontrolled release of individuals can lead to adverse consequences for reservoirs – environmental pollution, lack of food for populations living in this reservoir, infection of aquatic biological resources with diseases of escaped individuals if fish farms violate the requirements of veterinary supervision.

In conclusion, I would like to note that most scientists both in the field of law and in the field of natural sciences pay attention to the great potential of the Russian Federation in the development of aquaculture – our country has rich water resources suitable for aquaculture facilities ^{[8, p. 26],[9, p. 58],[10, p. 127],[11, p. 237]}. The problems we have identified in this area can be solved by monitoring the implementation of the measures taken and the timely adoption of new ones, which are required by the changing climatic and political situation. Coordinated actions by the government and science will be able to bring domestic fish farming to a new level.