Illegal Fishing In Russia's Far East Estimated At Several Billion Dollars

Illegal fishing of pollock in the Far Eastern region of Russia exceeds the legal quotas 1.5 times, salmon 2 times and crabs 3 plus times, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund Programme Alexei Vaisman told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday. He was presenting results of fishing research done in the Russian portion of the Bering sea. Research was done in 1999 by specialists from the international programme Traffic. Vaisman called fishing in the sea's Russian portion clearly excessive as regards all kinds of biological resources and observed that the population of pollock and crabs is dwindling. The total volume of illegal fishing in the Far East in 1999 was estimated at 4.5 billion dollars. The situation has barely changed today, said the expert. The representative of the World Wildlife Fund voiced the hope that the satellite-aided center for tracking movements of fishing vessels, established at the Russian State Fishing Committee, will help reduce the wanton fishing of biological resources in the Russian part of the Bering sea.