Commercial Fishing Ban, Arctic Hectares, and Tourist Cashback

A ban on unregulated commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean came into effect several days ago. It was introduced as per the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean signed in 2018 by Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, China, Iceland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the European Union and Denmark. This means that an area of about 2.8 million square kilometers will be protected for at least 16 years with the option to be extended every five subsequent years. The idea behind the ban is to buy time for more scientific research in the area concerned.

The Far East and Arctic Ministry has okayed the list of areas eligible for land plot allocation under the Arctic Hectare program in the Republic of Karelia (Russia). The area amounting to 337,000 hectares is believed to be the largest chunk of land made available for the program among other Russia’s Arctic regions.

Roman Kopin, Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, suggested increasing the amount of federal funding for tours to the Russian Arctic and Far East under the governmental Tourist Cashback program. In his opinion, the amount of cashback payable to those taking tours to Northern Russia should be larger, given huge distances and high transportation and accommodation costs related to traveling to the High North. According to Mr. Kopin, this amount should increase from 20,000 to 50,000 rubles.