VLADIVOSTOK, June 9. /TASS/: Water area around Kuril Islands, abandoned by Japanese fishermen will soon be occupied by Russian fishing companies, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev said at a plenary meeting of the Far East media summit.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia would suspend the implementation of an intergovernmental agreement with Japan on certain issues of cooperation in the area of catching of marine living resources until Tokyo meets its financial commitments.
"We have a certain shortage of those territories where it is possible to fish productively and produce seafood. Therefore, there is competition here. I am sure that our Russian fishing companies will come to this place," Trutnev said.
He added that the shortage is created in particular through the program "quotas in exchange for investments." As part of this program, the government allocates quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources to companies in exchange for the construction of fishing vessels and fish processing plants in the Far East.
"We see what is happening now: some companies are selling, giving up their field of activity, but then nothing negative occurs. Russian companies come there and continue to work. As for main reserves and mineral deposits - they will not be taken away from Russia. In the situation with the Kuril Islands, with fishing around the Kuril Islands - they won't take [the fish] anywhere," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
