On December 23, Ukraine will begin announcing the first auctions for the right to industrial fishing in 2025. These auctions will be held through the state electronic trading system "Prozorro.Sales", which for the third year in a row provides a fair and transparent mechanism for the distribution of aquatic biological resources.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, such a model promotes competition among industrial fishermen and opens up opportunities for new players to join the industry. According to representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, enterprises wishing to engage in industrial fishing must submit an appropriate electronic declaration, which gives the right to participate in auctions.

260 lots have already been prepared for bidding for 2025. All details, including deadlines for submitting applications, the size of guarantee deposits, the volume of aquatic biological resources and permitted fishing gear, will be published on the official resources of the State Fish Agency and in the "Prozorro.Sales" system. This will allow participants to familiarize themselves with the conditions in advance and prepare for bidding.

In 2024, the "Prozorro.Sales" system has already demonstrated its effectiveness. 308 successful auctions were held for the right to catch fish and other aquatic biological resources, which brought UAH 50.9 million to the state budget. At the same time, the total value of the lots increased by 34% from the starting prices and amounted to UAH 38.15 million.

This result significantly exceeded the revenues of previous years. Before the reform of the fishing industry, revenues from the special use of water resources amounted to only UAH 13-15 million per year. Thanks to electronic auctions, commercial fishermen paid 49.6 million hryvnias to local budgets, which provides additional funding for the regions.

The introduction of transparent electronic bidding has become one of the key stages of the reform of the fisheries sector in Ukraine. This allows not only to ensure equal conditions for participants, but also contributes to the rational use of aquatic biological resources. The Ministry hopes that 2025 will be another step in the development of the industry and strengthening its economic stability.