Russia, US to join efforts in combating illegal fishing
During the 26th session of the Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Fishery, Russia and the US signed a cooperation agreement on preventing, curbing and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
The Russian side was represented by Head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Vasily Sokolov; the US side was represented by David Balton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries.
The signing ceremony was attended by Russian and US officials, as well as fishing industry groups based in the Pacific Northwest/Alaska region, including the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers and Bering Sea Environmental, Arctic-Info agency reports.
Russia has already signed similar agreements with the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China and Japan. Experts at the Federal Agency for Fishery believe that the agreement with the US will help address the effectiveness of the fight against illegal fish trade in the Asia-Pacific region.