Japan Worried: Putin Supports Driftnet Fishing Ban

Moscow has banned driftnet salmon and trout fishing in its exclusive economic zone as it is ecologically destructive both to Russia and Japan.

Catching salmon and trout in the northern seas off Japan may soon become off-limits. Earlier this month Russia’s parliament    passed a bill to ban driftnet fishing in the area off the country’s eastern coast, which extends about 370 kilometers from its shores, The Japan Times wrote.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that driftnet fishing was denuding the salmon and trout population and was ecologically destructive both to Russia and Japan.

Environmentalists warmly embraced the decision as a step toward rescuing Russia's Pacific salmon population and improving the country’s environmental record.

The upcoming ban, to take effect next year, has sent alarm bells ringing across the fishing community of Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido Island were salmon and trout fishing has been going on since before the start of WW2.

Adding to Tokyo’s worries about the upcoming ban, 17 fishing boats from Hokkaido, engaged in driftnet fishing off the Russian coast, were impounded by the Russian Coast earlier this year for exceeding the allowed catch quota, further ramping up tensions between the two countries.