70% of Russian Fishing Fleet below Standard

'70% of the Russian fishing fleet is below standard,' said Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Fishery Committee Leonid Holod on Tuesday. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, Mr Holod said that ' the fishing fleet is in a bad condition. There There are too many vessels for catching specific kinds of fish and not enough of other vessels.'

There are currently between 3500 and 4000 vessels in the fishing ports. According to Mr Holod, most of these are used for catching cod, pollack and crab. There are not enough ships for catching far-eastern herring, flounder and fish from the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this, Mr Holod said, is that there is not enough demand for these kinds of fish to be exported. He also said that Russia has completely lost its 'tuna' fleet. 'However tuna is a popular fish all over the world which lives in our waters and which our fishermen could catch,' he added.

In Mr Holod's opinion the State Fishery Committee should try to improve this situation by developing those areas which are now in crisis. Furthermore, Mr Holod said that port formalities need to be simplified, customs regulations need improving as does the system of fish-processing.