Russia may take away Japan's and South Korea's fishing quotas because of poaching, the head of the Federal Fisheries Agency, said Wednesday.
"Russia reserves the right to cancel all agreements with these countries so that Japan and Korea do not receive a single quota for catching fish in Russia's exclusive economic zone," Andrei Krainy said, adding that this was the agency's official position.
He said Japan had violated an agreement to fight illegal fishing signed last month during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Japan continues to be a channel through which poached Russian crabs are shipped to Korea, he added.
Russia's exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean, where Japanese and South Korean fishermen operate, includes the Sea of Okhotsk, a part of the Bering Sea and waters surrounding Sakhalin island.
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