TOKYO (AP)- Japan agreed Friday to pay up to 859 million yen ($8.1 million) in equipment to Russia in return for fishing quotas that include salmon from Russian rivers.
The equipment, such as nets, water tanks and generators for incubators, will be used to boost the reproduction of salmon, said Fisheries Agency official Makoto Yamashita.
Under the accord, which came at the end of weeklong negotiations in Tokyo, Japanese fishermen will be allowed to catch 5,920 tons of salmon in Japanese waters in 2000 – up 150 tons from last year.
The quotas include salmon that hatched in Russian rivers and then moved out to the seas. Japan began paying Russia for the fishery quotas since 1992.
Last year, Japan supplied 726 million yen ($6.8 million) worth of equipment to Russia for 4,946 tons of salmon.
Seiji Kawamoto, a director at the Fisheries Agency, led the Japanese side in the talks. The Russian side was headed by V.A. Izmailov, vice chairman of the state committee for fisheries of the Russian Federation.
Japan’s fishing quotas for Russian waters will be decided through another round of talks set for next month.
News sourced from:
