The bulk of Russian-caught pollock becomes a double frozen product exported to Europe and the United States: it is frozen first

in Russia, sent to China where it is thawed, processed and frozen again. Most of the frozen blocks imported by the USA and Europe from China are composed of Russian pollock. The Russian pollock fishery has had low transparency due to the lack of observer coverage, the absence of adequate data on by-catch of marine mammals and discards of juvenile pollock. According to both the Government and Russian seafood industry officials, restrictions are rarely complied within this fishery [35]. Investigation into the current situation for Russian pollock exports to China for re-export to the United States selleckchem found that illegal catches likely remain high, as officials rely on Daily Vessel Reports (DVRs) to assess official landings and TAC in this fishery. Catch reporting is also affected by inaccurate reporting of raw-to-processed fish conversion coefficients and poor monitoring of transshipments at sea. Selleckchem UK-371804 Discards of undersized pollock are in direct contravention of regulations stipulating the allowable by-catch of undersized pollock. Prevailing low scientific

observer coverage [36] and enforcement presence means that this regulation is rarely enforced, and seems to be further compounded by low wages and corruption among the enforcement staff Acyl CoA dehydrogenase [37]. In the

Sea of Okhotsk pollock fishery, enforcement efforts have reportedly led to declines in illegal fishing since 2008, with violations from inspections reduced from 3.4% in 2008 to 1.7% in 2010 [38] and [39]. However, this data should be treated with caution as landings of illegal catches of Russian origin continue to be reported in neighboring countries [40]. When violations occur, the Russian industry has claimed them to be administrative violations rather than an IUU crime – an atypical interpretation of IUU reporting. Notably, there appears to be no routine at the government level in the Russian Federation to compare illegal catches against the TAC for Russian pollock. The impact for Russia is mainly biological and scientific, in that for robust assessment and TAC-setting, scientists need to incorporate unlawful discards of undersized pollock and discards from roe harvest, a task made difficult while Russian industry denies that violations exist. Russian legislators recently approved a national plan of action (Government of the Russian Federation decree of 25 December 2013 no. 2534p, Moscow) and legislative changes to create sanctions against illegal fishing, but these efforts have been held up by prevarications from the fishing industry [41] and the Russian government has been diverted into trying to establish definitions for specific violations [42].