Russia’s Great African Expedition Sets Off To Explore Africa’s Continental Coastal Fisheries

Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo) has launched a major research initiative aimed at studying marine biology resources along the coast of 18 African countries in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. A ceremony to launch the expedition took place on Wednesday (August 22) at the marine fishing port in Kaliningrad, Russia, and was attended Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev and a number of other Russian officials.

Patrushev said “Today, we are launching one of the most ambitious projects in the fishing industry – the Great African Expedition. This is a unique event since similar research has not been conducted since the 1980s. The expedition will assess aquatic biological resources off the African coast and open up new fishing areas.”

The expedition will enable Russia to assess the reserves of aquatic biological resources along Africa’s coastlines and identify new fishing areas.

“As we know, Russia ranks among the top five global leaders in terms of catch volume. Last year, our fishing industry set a record by harvesting 5.37 million tons of aquatic natural resources. As a result of the Great African Expedition, the scope of fishing operations will further expand. African nations will be granted access to information on fish reserves, contributing to global food security. This will be another significant contribution by Russia towards ensuring global food security.”

According to Kirill Kolonchin, director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), the expedition will continue until the beginning of 2026.

Two Rosrybolovstvo research vessels will be deployed to study the coastal waters. In addition to Russian scientists, researchers from various African coastal nations will also join the expedition, according to VNIRO. The team of scientists on each vessel will comprise 12 experts specializing in acoustic, oceanographic, hydrochemical, hydrobiological, and ichthyological research.

The ‘Atlantniro’ research vessel will study the coastal zones of Mauritania, Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola. Meanwhile, the other vessel, the ‘Atlantida’, will focus on the waters of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Senegal, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Eritrea.