A) Blue fields of Russia

Russia has immense inland water resources. Currently, they are being severely underutilized as far as fishing is concerned: the annual freshwater catch is less than 100,000 tonnes.

Sturgeon, beluga, sterlet, Siberian salmon, hunchback salmon, and omul are but a few of the fish contributing to the natural bounty of Russia. For hundreds of years, Russia has led the world in terms of sturgeon stock. The rivers and lakes of Siberia and the Kola Peninsula are more abundant in salmon than anywhere else in the world.

Freshwater fishing and commercial fish farming were hurt by the difficulties associated with Russia's change to a new economic system. Nonetheless, there are good reasons to expect development in this industry, as well as in the crustacean and shellfish sectors. Spurred on by today's economic reality, a new system of breeding fish and freshwater crab and shrimp has emerged.

To catch and process enough saltwater fish to make one tonne of processed seafood requires a tonne of fuel. Transportation and storage outlays must be added to that. It costs 2,500 rubles per kilogram to ship fish from the Far East to Moscow, whereas transporting live carp from the regions surrounding the capital costs no more than 150 rubles per kilogram.

It is perfectly clear that the fishing industry's strategy should aim at rapid development of fish farming, which could provide inexpensive fresh and processed seafood directly to local populations.

The transition of Russia's fishing industry to a market footing has meant drastic changes on the world's seafood markets: competition for resources has grown more intense, with the seafood-processing companies of leading fishing nations eager to gain access to Russia's 200-mile exclusive economic zone. We are doing our best to ensure that international fishing relations between the Russian Federation and other countries are based on universally accepted principles and the norms of international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the multilateral and bilateral treaties and agreements to which Russia is party.

Despite the troubles facing the fishing industry, Russia must not only continue to participate in international fishing organizations but also take an active role in newer organizations such as the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PACES) and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC). It is our hope that PACES will become an indepen­dent arbiter in the assessment of living ocean resources in such vital areas as the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea.

An international convention was signed forbidding fishing for Pacific salmon outside the 200-mile zone in the northern portions of the Pacific and in neighboring waters, and introducing measures to reduce to a minimum the number of salmon taken by other means. The ban on salmon fishing outside the zone allowed the Russian fishing industry to increase the size of its catch in the zone to 155,000 tonnes in the following years.

Russia borders on one of the world's unique bodies of water, the Caspian Sea, home to 90 percent of the world stock of sturgeon. To preserve this natural resource for future generations, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan have worked out a vital agreement on the preservation and utilization of Caspian bioresources. Unfortunately, the agreement has yet to be signed and ratified.

Russia's cooperation with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) deserves special attention. In March 2009 the 21st session of the FAO's Committee on the Fishing Industry (COFI) and a meeting of fishing-industry ministers from the FAO member-countries were held at the committee's Rome headquarters. A Russian delegation attended these meetings with observer status. Among the items discussed at the meetings was a proposed Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing.

In view of the importance of fishing from socioeconomic and environmental standpoints, the importance of fish as a source of food, and the growing demand for seafood, the fishing industry ministers of the FAO member-countries acknowledged the urgent need to:

• eliminate overfishing;

• restore and increase fish stocks;

• minimize wasteful practices in fishing;

• develop a stable aquaculture;

• develop new and substitute sources on the basis of scientifically sound principles and responsible management.

Agreement was reached on the development of a joint FAO-Russian cooperation program. The Russian side suggested:

• exchange of information on the status of resources;

• statistics on trade and catch size;

• participation in regional FAO organizations (Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic);

• exchange and training of specialists;

• exchange of marketing information (Globefish, Eastfish).

This program is a key to the development of international cooperation over the next few years, and may even be the first step to Russia's future membership in the FAO.