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Starting next year Russia plans to stop handing over quotas for commercial fishing, though about 50 types of most valuable fishes will not leave the list of limitations, Andrei Krainy, head of the fisheries regulator agency, announced in Khabarovsk on Tuesday.

The quotas will still be assigned for valuable but resource-scarce kinds of fishes like sturgeon, crab, sea urchin, scallops and others, Krainy, head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, said at a meeting in Russia's Far East.

According to Krainy, the abolishment of quotas for other fishes will not mean uncontrollable fishing. Regional headquarters would be organized to determine the fishing output, with limitations on duration, the number of fishing vessels and the methods of fishing.

“Quoting system does not solve the problem of regulation of catches and does not protect marine resources from poaching,” Krainy said. “Factual catches exceed assigned quotas by two or three times and when it concerns crab catches – by seven times,” Krainy revealed.

According to Krainy, the rights to catch fish will be granted only to the companies which possess their own fleet. Only 3,700 fishing enterprises out of registered 5,000 have their fishing vessels while the rest companies make their business by reselling quotas.

The new initiative is supposed to come into effect on January 1, 2008. "It is nothing new. The same system was applied to fishing in the Soviet times," Krainy stressed.

Krainy also pointed out the necessity for Russia to introduce a monopoly on fishing in its national waters which is a common practice in other countries with developed fishing industries.

"Commercial fishing is traditionally a strategic branch of the economy and foreigners should not be present there," Krainy said. "We are capable of developing resources in our economic zone ourselves. Foreign companies could pay attention to the fish processing plants, "he noted.

According to Krainiy, Russia's state-controlled Rosselkhozbank would start supporting domestic fishing companies by issuing 12%-interest loans from January 2008.

Russia's current annual commercial catch is about 3.2-3.3 million metric tons. The average per capita consumption of fish and seafood in Russia has decreased from 22.5 kilograms (50 lb) in 1986 to 12.6 kilograms (27 lb) in 2006, while the Health Ministry recommends average annual consumption at about 23.7 kilograms (52 lb).

In comparison, annual fish consumption in the U.S. is 22.6 kilograms (50 lb), in China - 25.7 kilograms (56 lb), in Norway - 47.4 kilograms (104 lb) and in Japan - 64.7 kilograms (142 lb).