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[Russia] South Kurils could be closed to third countries
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Russia
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Others
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Policy
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2001.12.06
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Russia will consider closing the South Kurils area to fishing by third
countries, Yury Moskaltsov, deputy chairman of the Russian State Fisheries
Committee (Goskomrybolovstvo), told a news conference in Moscow on
Thursday.
Moskaltsov said this move will cause Russia to lose over USD 3 million.
Therefore, whether or not this decision will be made depends on the
position of Japan, which must compensate Russia for its losses.
This question will be discussed at the 18th session of the Russian-
Japanese Fisheries Committee in Moscow on Thursday.
The deputy head of Goskomrybolovstvo said that Russia and Japan give each
other quotas for fishing in their economic areas each year.
In particular, in 2001, the quotas reached 52,000 tonnes of fish for each
country.
The session participants will discuss the question of granting mutual
quotas, including paid ones, Moskaltsov said. He added that Moscow intends
to raise the question of increasing the quota for Russian fishermen working
in the Japanese economic area.
The head of the Japanese delegation said that Japan also intends to raise
the question of increasing quotas in 2002, in particular for salmon and
other types of fish.
Moskaltsov, who heads the Russian delegation at the negotiations, said
that Russia intends to urge Japan to take practical steps to combat
poaching. In particular, Russia has stopped fishing crabs in some areas
due to the sharp decrease in resources, Moskaltsov said. At the same time,
according to information from Goskomrybolovstvo, each day, Japan's ports
are receiving from 10 to 20 ships carrying crab caught in the Russian
economic area.
Moskaltsov also said that in 2002, Russia will fully close the fishing of
Alaskan pollock to foreign fishing companies, and for Russian fishermen,
the quotas will be reduced by 50 per cent. This will be done due to the
sharp decrease in Alaskan pollock resources in the Sea of Okhotsk, he
said.
The deputy head of Goskomrybolovstvo said that Japan is a major partner
with Russia in the sphere of fishing. In particular, Russia exports over
200,000 tonnes of seafood to Japan each year, he said.
FIS(2001/12/3)
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