Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions

A coalition of NGOs calls on the European Commission to ban all Russian seafood imports and deny Russian-flagged or owned vessels access to EU ports and waters. The authors argue that current bans on 'high-end seafood' are insufficient and that Russia's fisheries management is characterized by overfishing and a high risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The letter recommends implementing a digital traceability system to prevent mislabelling and calls for the EU to rebuild its own fish stocks to reduce import dependence.

• Russian seafood exports to the EU were valued at EUR 580 million in 2020, making Russia the 11th largest non-EU supplier, with significant imports of whitefish such as cod, haddock, and pollock entering markets in Germany, Spain, and Portugal.
• Russia is identified as having one of the worst global performances in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, ranked second out of 152 nations, with only China assessed as performing worse.
• The document highlights unsustainable Russian fishing practices, noting that nearly half of its assessed stocks are overfished and that the Norwegian-Russian bilateral management plan for Arctic cod deviated from the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) standard.
• The authors argue that current EU sanctions are limited to 'high-end seafood' like caviar and some shellfish, and they propose a total ban on all Russian-origin seafood and the denial of port access to Russian-owned or flagged vessels.
• To ensure sanctions are effective, the letter recommends a digital traceability system to prevent mislabelling and the use of IMO numbers to identify vessels attempting to evade sanctions by reflagging.

APA

ClientEarth (2022). Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions. https://www.clientearth.org/media/fybnspmi/20220901_ngo-letter-on-ru_final.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions. 2022. https://www.clientearth.org/media/fybnspmi/20220901_ngo-letter-on-ru_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions |date=1 September 2022 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/fybnspmi/20220901_ngo-letter-on-ru_final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2022including, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Including Russian seafood and fishing vessels in upcoming EU sanctions}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/fybnspmi/20220901_ngo-letter-on-ru_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }