Russian-Japanese anti-poaching agreement to come into force Dec 10, 2014

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. The Russian-Japanese agreement on joint efforts to counter illegal, unregistered and unregulated fishing will come into force on December 10, 2014, Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo) said in a statement Tuesday. Japanese ports will begin accepting Russian fish only if a ship presents an authorisation certificate issued by Rosrybolovstvo, the Fisheries Agency said. Rosrybolovstvo representatives will be authorised to issue documents confirming the legal origin of fish. Thus the two countries will create the conditions that would exclude the sale of illegally caught aquatic biological resources, the agency said. The agreement between the Russian and Japanese governments on the preservation, rational use and management of living resources in the Northwest Pacific and prevention of illegal trade in living resources was signed in Vladivostok on September 8, 2012. Russia has already signed anti-poaching memoranda with North and South Koreas and China, and it is in an information exchange deal with Canada, the Federal Fisheries Agency said. Read more