Closer Finnish-Russian fisheries cooperation in transboundary waters

On 24 April 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland and the Federal Agency for Fisheries of the Russian Federation signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on the development and monitoring of fisheries and related research cooperation in Finnish-Russian transboundary waters.

– Migrating fish do not know national borders, says Jaana Husu-Kallio, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

– Fish stocks in transboundary waters have for a long time been managed as part of the work of the Finnish-Russian Transboundary Water Commission, but now we aim for even closer cooperation to achieve a more comprehensive approach to transboundary fisheries, she says.

The aim is to set up a Finnish-Russian working group focused on fisheries to assess the sustainable management and protection of the shared fish stocks and compile information on them. The task of the working group is also to develop the management of fish waters and, where necessary, provide advice on how sustainable fishing should be organised.

In the about 20 river basin districts in the Finnish-Russian frontier region there are still naturally reproducing fish populations that are important for the preservation and diversity of the genomes of trout and lake salmon. The most significant ones are the River Tuulomajoki river basin, Oulanka region, Vuoksi river basin, and small rivers discharging into the Vyborg Bay.

The work on the shared fish populations continues with a seminar on enabling the life cycle of migratory fish in transboundary waters, to be held in Lappeenranta on 25 April 2018. The aim is to share experiences about programmes and measures concerned with fish migration and find new ideas for closer cooperation.

Inquiries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:

Tapio Hakaste, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 162 152, forename.surname@mmm.fi