Russia displaying firm commitment to port control

Russia has continued to display firm commitment to port control as a tool making sure that only fish from responsible operators will be shipped to export destinations.

From 1 May to 17 July current 323 Russian vessels forwarded the information about the origin of their fish cargoes in compliance with the international procedure of state port control of foreign vessels. There were six cases when the legality of the vessels' fish cargoes was not confirmed, according to the official data of Murmansk department of Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor.

Through the above period, the vessels landed more than 100,000 tonnes of fish products in the ports of Great Britain, Denmark, Holland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. The largest share of landed products was contributed by blue whiting (54,600 metric tons), cod (29,640 tonnes), haddock (8900 tonnes), ocean perch (8600 tonnes), Atlantic herring (2260 tonnes) and mackerel (3600 tonnes).

The procedure of state port control has been operating as of 1 May 2007 in keeping with the Scheme of Control and Enforcement initiated by the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) against unlawful, unreported and unregulated fishery. Under the scheme, on the territory of the Russian Federation foreign vessels operating in the NEAFC waters are allowed to land or transship catches only in marine fish ports of Murmansk, Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg.