The Russian authorities plan to impose a moratorium on crabbing in some zones of the Russian Far East, which may inflict serious damage to the economy of Vakkanay, the northern port on Japanese Hokkaido.
      
      The Russian government had to resort to the moratorium due to the regular law violations committed by Japanese fishermen, who catch king crabs illegally in the Russian Economic Zone. Thus, from 1 January of 2008, the seafood catch will have to pass all customs formalities.
      
      In June of 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture of the RF banned export of live crabs beyond the Russian Economic Zone limits and obliged the fishermen to take the catch to the domestic ports for processing.
      
      However, according to the data provided by the customs authority of Vakkanay, about 9 thousand tons of live crabs were transported to the port for the past 10 months.
      
      There are 7 crab-processing factories in Vakkanay. The local administration doesn’t make a secret of the origin of their production and confirm the fact illegal crabbing.
      
      source:
      www.newsru.com