Russia signing important agreements at European Seafood Exposition

At a recent Brussels show European Seafood Exposition Russia has signed two important agreements, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Expert.

More specifically, Russia and the EU have signed an agreement on cooperation in the sphere of fisheries in the Baltic Sea thanks to which the Russian quota has been increased to 50% of the TAC. Earlier six countries of the region had 15% of the quota each and the increase of the Russian part of the TAC has been conditioned by the guarantees of stock reproduction activities in the area.

Russia has also assumed obligations to stock young eel and Coregonus whitefish to the Baltic Sea. In April 2009 a fish reproduction plant was commissioned in the Curonian Spit in Kaliningrad region.

Another important document signed at the exhibition was the Russian-Norwegian agreement on fisheries in the Barents Sea. The sides have agreed on the use of single rules for capture and control over the stocks. In particular, Russia and Norway will not only approve the TACs together and distribute the quotas, but they will also completely harmonize the fishing gear and the order of reporting the catch rates by the shipowners. Before the agreement the technical parameters of the fishing gear, such as the net length and the mesh size have been different in the nations' fishery regulations. Often arrests of the Russian vessels in the Norwegian EEZ and in the waters of Spitsbergen have been also caused by this reason.

The agreement has come up as a result of a multi-year cooperation. The use of unified stock management rules will encourage liquidation of poaching in the Barents Sea, said Advisor of Norway's Ministry of Fisheries and Co-Chairman of the Mixed Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission Mr. Jorn Krog.