The upcoming Global Fishery Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, will see a Japanese delegation share its know-how regarding fishing's impact on economic development.

The role of fishing in the development of the Japanese city of Kushiro will be discussed by its mayor, Hiroya Ebina, at the roundtable “Fisheries: social dimension as a factor in the development of territories”.

Representatives of Japan’s major fisheries associations will also attend the forum, including Sekiichi Kanai, a member of the board of directors of the Japan Deep Sea Trawlers Association, and president of Kanai Gyogyo; Seiji Haraguchi, executive director of the Hokkaido Trawl Fisheries Cooperative Federation; and Shigeki Himori, managing director of the Kushiro Fishermen’s Association.

Japan actively cooperates with Russia in the fishery sphere, including on the joint management of aquatic bioresources within the framework of international commissions (the North Pacific Fisheries Commission), and scientific and technical cooperation.

Russia and Japan have agreements in place to fight illegal fishing, and the two countries also provide each other with fish and shellfish quotas in their national waters, and conduct joint scientific expeditions every year.

“Japan is one of our key partners in the Northeast Pacific; the fisheries sector is

very developed there and plays a huge role in the economy and national food security,”

said Ilya Shestakov, deputy minister of agriculture for Russia and head of the federal

agency for fisheries.

“We are interested not only in modern Japanese fish production and processing technologies, but also in the experience of organizing fishery clusters and developing coastal areas,” he added.