Russia’s State Duma passes bill on nearshore fishery

The draft law allows for primary processing of caught aquatic bioresources on board ships

At its plenary meeting held on 15 June 2021, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the amendments into Article No 20 of the Federal Law “On the Fishery and the Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources” in the part of nearshore fishery regulation.

According to the explanatory note available at the official website of the State Duma, the draft law on introduction of amendments into Arcicle NoNo 1, 20 of the Federal Law “On the Fishery and the Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources” is aimed at improvement of legal regulations in the part of nearshore fishery taking into consideration the settled practice.

The draft law provides for determination of primary processing types allowed at fishing ships involved in nearshore fishery.

The current legislation lets fishing ships involved in nearshore fishery transport, store and unload live/fresh/cooled aquatic bioresources.

In some fishery basins, nearshore fishery is only possible far from points of unloading (with one-way transition time of up to 2 days).

So, primary processing of the catch is needed to preserve its quality but regulators do not currently allow it for ships involved in nearshore fishery.