Poaching runs rampant in Russia, where biological resources like seafood in the Far East are stolen by fishermen. Experts say that the poaching of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea is 20 times as much as quotas permit.
Experts from the Audit Chamber pressed for closer coordination between anti-poaching bodies and called for the creation of a single government body to protect biological resources from the sea, including in special economic zones.
The experts also stressed that flaws in legislation were another reason for poaching and particularly proposed developing a federal law on the protection of sturgeon.
In 1999-2004, 128,000 metric tons of king crabs were illegally caught and smuggled out of Russia's Far East. Quotas on cod fishing are exceeded by some 100,000 tons in the Barents Sea every year.
