On March 19 chairman of the Russian Fisheries Committee Evgeny Nazdratenko met with State Duma deputies from Northern and Far Eastern regions. Nazdratenko and lawmakers discussed situation in the fisheries industry and its future development. According to the Fisheries Committee's press service, the lawmakers thanked Nazdratenko for paying attention to the problems of the northern and far eastern regions and voiced their support of Committee's activities aimed at strengthening of state control in the fisheries sector. The deputies also expressed readiness to back Committee's legislative activities in the Duma.

Official charges have been filed against two Murmansk fishermen for drug trade. Detectives of the local drug crime unit detained the first of the criminal, a chief mate, while he was trying to sell a few grams of marijuana near the Murmansk sea passenger terminal. A few more dozes were found during the search of his cabin onboard his vessel. From him the lead took the detectives to the vessel's navigator. The police found up to 1 kg of drugs under the floor of his garage. He also kept some of the drug at home is his loudspeakers.

Russia's Railways Ministry has so far ignored Murmansk region Gov. Yuri Evdokimov's request for the introduction of discounted rail tariffs during the capelin fishery season this spring. Capelin has been traditionally dubbed as "people's" fish. The name stuck to the small fish because of its low price during spring fishery season in the not-too-distant past. Nowadays it is a traditional item on the shelves of Murmansk grocery shops involved in Cheap Fish Program run by City Hall. However, the capelin can no longer be called a cheap fish for most Russians. Three years ago when capelin fishery was resumed, the railway transportation tariffs in January through March were reduced 50 percent resulting in capelin retail prices ranging between 16 to 20 rubles per kilo. Now that the discounted rail tariff is no longer there, the retail price of capelin is likely to increase drastically.

The first international fishery show "Fishing resources-2002" will take place at the Fishery Complex of the All-Russian Exhibition Centre (VVC) in Moscow on June 26 through 30. The following sectors of the fishery industry will be represented at the show: commercial fishing; fishing fleet; ship equipment and marine radioelectronics; fish processing technology; fishing gear; safety at sea; fishery management and control systems. An international scientific conference is planned to be arranged during the show.

According to experts' estimates, fish consumption in some of the Russian regions has recently fallen to 5 kg of fish per person per year. Some 10-15 years ago annual fish consumption was around 10 to 12 kg and up to 24 kg per person in coastal regions. Current condition of the fishing industry calls for drastic changes in all of its sectors. Russia will need to increase its catch by 27 percent by 2010 to reach the Government's goal of doubling fish consumption..

Chairman of the Russian Fisheries Committee Evgeny Nazdratenko and Byelorussia's agriculture and Foods Minister Mikhail Rusy signed an agreement allowing Byelorussian fishing companies and Russian-Byelorussian joint ventures to base their fishing fleet at Russian fishing ports. Under the agreement Russia will also allot fishing quotas for Byelorussia in the Russian economic zone each year and issue fishing licenses for Russian-Byelorrussian joint-ventures.

The agreement stipulates that the two countries will coordinate their policies in manufacturing and sales of fish products, implement joint projects in fishing, transportation and storage of fish and exchange research information.

Cooperation between Denmark and Russia's Northwestern regions was discussed in St.Petersburg on Friday at the meeting of presidential representative in the Northwestern Federal District Viktor Cherkesov and Denmark's Consul General at St.Petersburg Peter Veis.

According to Cherkesov's press service, he said that cooperation with the Baltic Sea region is one of top foreign policy priorities for Russia and the Northwestern district. This primarily refers to the transportation and telecommunications projects jointly implemented by Russia and Nordic countries.

Veis said cooperation of the Baltic Sea states couldn't be efficient without Russia's participation. The consul general also informed Cherkesov about the events dedicated to St.Petersburg's 300th anniversary Denmark will participate in. In particular Veis told Cherkesov about the visit of Danish Queen to St.Petersburg scheduled for June 2003.

Canadian Federal Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault passed a decision banning access to the Canadian ports to the Faeroese fishing vessels. Thibault explained that the measure was caused by "pathological" inclination of Faeroese vessels fishing shrimp off the Canada's 200-mile zone to violate conservation regulations imposed by Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, or NAFO.

"I will not tolerate deliberate violation of NAFO quotas and rules exhibited by this fleet", Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) quoted the minister, "From now on, all Canadian ports are closed for Faeroese fishing vessels, except for emergences."

Thibault stated that Canada repeatedly complained about the situation to the Faeroe officials but they ignored both the idea of shrimp conservation and NAFO measures towards its protection. The ports will remain closed for Faeroese vessels until the end of the year, except for emergencies, but Thibault said Canada might consider opening them if the Faeroese fleet showed readiness to cooperate with Canadian authorities with regards NAFO requirements and comply with stock conservation measures. DFO statement also says that the department is currently looking into fishing activities of other countries and they will face similar sanctions if found guilty of violating NAFO regulations.

Activists of the Norwegian environmental group Miljшvernforbundet threw dead fish before the participants of the traditional North Sea Conference in Bergen, Norway protesting overfishing and dumping of by-catch. The environmentalists demanded improvement of fisheries management and bans on dumping of fish.

At the conference the Norwegians focused at the technetium emissions from the nuclear waste processing facility in Sellafield, UK. Although the majority of conference participants admitted the discharges were well below the precautionary, Norway is concerned that the emissions may tar the "healthy" reputation of Norwegian seafood. Norway's environmental Minister Borge Brende said the Sellafield pollution is becoming a burden on relationship between Norway and the UK. According to other environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, there are other, more hazardous, sources of pollution. Greenpeace representative Truls Gulowsen named three most serious environmental problems of the North Sea in the opinion of Greenpeace: oil industry production waters; overfishing and nuclear waste. According to the research carried out by the Bergen Marine Research Institute, or IMI, oil industry production waters contain substances that alter cod hormonal system and cause a three-week delay of spawning.

Chairman of the Danish Fishermen's Association Bent Rulle was invited to the conference to make a statement of behalf of the Nordic Fishermen's Council, but was turned down at the last minute. In his speech Rulle intended to concentrate on the consequences of human activities such as production of oil, sand and gravel. He noted that tremendous effort had been made to reduce damage inflicted by fisheries and that it was time to pay attention to serious problems facing marine environment.

The mixed commission for auctions for commercial quotas of water biological resources on Friday decided to hold trading at the European-Asian exchange in Moscow on 25 and 26 April. The press service of the Economics Ministry quoted the commission decision as saying that only Russian legal entities and private individuals owning or leasing fishing vessels will be permitted to participate. On 25 April Alaskan pollock and flatfish quotas will be auctioned, and on 26 April quotas of blue crab, snow crab, golden king crab, bairdi crab, northern shrimp, humpy shrimp, grooved tiger prawn, cod, halibut and macrurus, the press release says.

Russia's first plant for the waste-free processing of deepwater crab is to be built on the island of Sakhalin in the town of Korsakov, director of the Sakhalin Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography Research (SakhNIRO) Vladimir Radchenko has told Interfax.

Radchenko said that the construction will be done by the company Binom-Tsenter, the founders of which are the company Binom, the Kurils Universal Complex, SakhNIRO and TINRO-Tsenter. Plans call for the building to start sometime in the first half of this year and be completed in the spring of 2003. The preliminary price tag on the project is around USD 1.5 million. Most of the plant's equipment will be bought from the United States, and experimental equipment designed by TINRO-Tsenter will also be used.

Bank loan funds are planned to be used for financing the construction, and it is possible that equipment will be acquired under lease. The plant will be able to process 50 tonnes of crab a day. In addition to crab products, medicinal preparations will be made from crab shells.

A 500-tonne quota for scientific deepwater crab fishing has been allocated for the Sakhalin region this year. Next year could well see the region get an industrial quota of 5,000 tonnes.

(Interfax) - Russia plans to export over 40 tonnes of black caviar in 2002, which is a little less than in 2001, first deputy head of the state fisheries committee, Alexander Moiseev, told Interfax. The committee was pleased when the general secretary of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Willem Wijnstekers announced it was removing its recommendation to Caspian states to ban the production and export of caviar in 2002.

Moiseev noted that he met with Wijnstekers twice in February and in March and showed him proof that ban- ning the export of caviar from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan would not reduce illegal sturgeon fishing in the Caspian. Fishing authorities in the five Caspian states are currently developing joint measures to introduce tough control over sturgeon fishing in the Caspian basin, especially fishing in the coastal areas of Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan, he said. It is the joint efforts of the Caspian states that will drastically reduce illegal sturgeon fishing in the Caspian, experts from the fisheries committee say.

Azerbaijan supports a UN decision to limit black caviar exports by Caspian countries, a senior Azerbaijani official said on Tuesday. "No international ban has been put on exports of black caviar or on sturgeon fishing. There was very much discussion about this last year, there were threats that [a ban] would be introduced early this year, but it never happened, after all," the official, who serves at the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, told Interfax. He said the secretariat of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) had confined itself to quota reduction. Azerbaijan is allowed to export 7.7 tonnes of black caviar and catch 92.2 tonnes of sturgeon this year, compared with 9.11 tonnes and 97.1 tonnes respectively last year.