Production activity

Nowadays, NWFC is the largest association of fishing companies in the FAO 27 area. However, this was not always the case. In 1993, when the history of NWFC was just beginning, our activities were limited to fishing cod and haddock in the coastal waters of the Barents Sea. The Consortium grew gradually, trawlers and auxiliary vessels were added to the fleet, the company’s own processing factories and coldstores were built on the shore.

The product range has been expanded with goods from crabs frozen immediately after catching. Today, our technologists master all the nuances of processing raw materials at sea and are able to manage the technological process taking into account the peculiarities of different commercial species. The geography has also changed: at this point, the NWFC vessels can be found in different zones of the FAO 27 area, and offices and coldstores are located in large cities from Murmansk to Shanghai. The Consortium’s vessels have registration required to export products to China, Korea and the EU countries.

Currently, NWFC controls the production processes at all stages, from catching and processing to sending to wholesale buyers. Therefore we can guarantee the quality of 17 thousand tons of crab production and 45 thousand tons of fish production that our customers purchase annually.

Crab catching

We catch crabs in ecologically clean areas of the Barents Sea: Red King Crab - from August to December, Opilio crab – from March to July. Specialized vessels, crab processors, are used to catch with bottom traps in the Northern climate. The exact time and place of installation of trap systems are determined according to weather, bottom terrain, crab migration routes and other factors. Red King crabs and Opilio crabs are being sorted on ships immediately after catching. The young and females return to the sea to maintain the population size and preserve the volume of catch in the future.

Crab processing

There are only healthy adults left on board after sorting. After cleaning and cutting, crab sections are processed on the ship. This is necessary to avoid the appearance of harmful metabolites accumulating in live crabs outside the sea. Then the sections are boiled in brine from seawater without preservatives and frozen. We do not use antibiotics to prolong the life of crabs after catching – safety is guaranteed by short processing time and disinfection with ultraviolet lamps. Part of the catch is frozen without cooking, immediately after cutting. The glaze in the final product does not exceed 3 % of the total weight.

Our crab processors return to the port for unloading or transship crabs onboard transport vessels at sea. Although frozen crabs can be kept for a very long time, we deliver products to our customers as quickly as possible.

Catch transfer to the vessel
Crab sorting and washing
Crab cutting
Disinfection and cooking in brine
Freezing sections and crab
Packaging and transportation

Fishing

The Consortium catches and processes fish since 1993. During this time, the product range has expanded to 29 positions, including headed gutted fish, fillets and by-products. All fish are caught in their natural habitat, as a result, they have excellent taste and also a sufficient amount of iodine, phosphorus and other trace nutrients. The basis of the NWFC fishery is the extraction of cod, haddock, saithe and halibut in the northeast Atlantic Ocean (FAO 27). By-catch may include catfish, flounders, cusk, blue ling and stingray. Fish is caught by bottom trawling and the time of dragging the trawl is selected to avoid damaging the already netted fish. This is the way we ensure excellent product quality and, therefore, a consistently high demand for it.

Fish processing

The catch is sorted, cut and frozen right on board of the fishing vessel. After that, some of the products are immediately packed and sent to customers, some are delivered to the onshore factory for further processing (for example, fillet production). Maintaining high catch volumes without harming the ecosystem and reducing the quality of products is a difficult task, especially in the Northern Basin. So, to manage the task, it was decided to establish the region specific processes of bottom trawling. In addition, all the NWFC ships were equipped with individual food safety management systems HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), preventing contamination of finished products.

Transfer of catch to a fishing vessel
Fish sorting
Fish cutting and washing
Fish parts freezing
Frozen fish products storage
Fish products unloading at the port

Infrastructure

Stable and continuous catching and processing is a guarantee that high-quality products will be delivered exactly on time to every NWFC customer. In order to minimize the influence of the North climatic factors on the main activity, additional services were formed in NWFC, such as repair docks, and even a separate training vessel for staff training. After joining the Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet the NWFC received its own port. The NWFC production cycle has become as independent as possible from external circumstances.

DEVELOPMENT

For all 30 years of the NWFC existence, Consortium management has paid special attention to modernization and development issues. Its fleet includes fishing vessels built in accordance with the Consortium's own design and received the highest ratings of international experts as the Best Fish Processing Vessel. The new ships were laid down at the Krasnoe Sormovo Russian shipyard in Nizhny Novgorod and at the Vyborg Shipyard. Professional development of employees has become a regular part of work in the NWFC. The technological processes of crab and fish harvesting and processing have been optimized and brought into line with current international standards. NWFC development today is also the development of the fishing and shipbuilding industries of the Russian economy. We want high-quality fish and crab products to become available to customers from all over the world.

Certificates and licenses

The management of the Consortium, which has been working successfully in the field of fishing for 30 years, understands the importance of careful attitude to the North Basin ecosystem like no one else does. Thus, the principles of conservation and recovery of natural resources are observed on all the NWFC vessels. This is confirmed by the certificates of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an international independent organization dealing with the problems of overfishing and depletion of global fish stocks.

The international and Russian safety certificates, received by NWFC, not only protect the end user, but also simplify the work of our wholesale customers. In many cases, our certificates are sufficient to avoid additional checks and expenses.

1. MSC-F-31356

MSC-certificate for the Red King crab fishing

CLIENT GROUP
NPO «North crab fisher’s association»

SHIPS: 15 vessels

View CERTIFICATE

2. MSC-F-31467

MSC-certificate for the Opilio crab fishing

CLIENT GROUP
NPO «North crab fisher’s association»

SHIPS: 15 vessels

View CERTIFICATE

3. MSC-F-31468

MSC-certificate for halibut fishing

CLIENT GROUP
North fish, NWFC Murmansk, Virma, ATF.

SHIPS: 6 vessels

View CERTIFICATE

4. MSC-F-31223

MSC-certificate for cod, haddock and saithe fishing

CLIENT GROUP
ATF JSC

SHIPS: 5 vessels

View CERTIFICATE

5. MSC-F-31520

MSC-certificate for shrimp fishery

CLIENT GROUP
FIUN Russian Barents Sea shrimp (incl. ATF).

SHIPS: 5 vessels

View CERTIFICATE

6. MSC-C-55807

Storage, Transportation, Wholesale

CLIENT GROUP
Virma Ltd.

View CERTIFICATE

7. MSC-C-55804

Storage, Transportation, Wholesale

CLIENT GROUP
ATF JSC

View CERTIFICATE

Produc­tion activity

Crab catching

Crab processing

Fishing

Fish processing

Infrastructure

DEVELOPMENT

Certificates and licenses

Contact us

Production activity