PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. June 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Measures taken by the Northeastern regional border guard department this year have resulted in a substantial decrease in the volume of illegal fish and seafood extraction from the area controlled by the department.
"Russian fishers alone caused damages amounting to nearly USD1.5bn last year by exporting illegally obtained fish and seafood to Japan," a department spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday. "The measures taken to tighten control over fishing areas have brought about a decrease in the number of poaching vessels," he said.
"It is very important that April 1 saw the coming into force of a Russian-Japanese agreement under which all Russian vessels delivering products to Japanese ports are to have customs declarations," the spokesman said. Earlier the only thing required in Japanese was a cargo declaration that was easy to counterfeit.
"The Japanese are also poaching in our waters, though much less frequently than Russians," the spokesman went on. Three poaching trawlers from Japan are under arrest in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and waiting for the trial.