Russia's fishery industry comes back under umbrella of Ministry of Agriculture

Russia's newly - appointed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been generating first changes in the Government which presumably must be in line with the announced goals of deregulation and increased efficiency of the Federal Government.

In this context, the new President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has signed decree No. 724 dated 12 of May 2008 on the System and Structure of the Federal Executive Bodies of Power, reports RIA Novosti.

According to clause 9 of the Order the powers of making and realization of the State policy and legal regulation in the sphere of fishery, production activity on fishing vessels, protection, research, reproduction and rational use of water biological resources, protection of the habitat as well as powers of drafting RF Government orders on tariff and non-tariff customs regulation in the sphere of agricultural and fishery products have been transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Respectively, the State Fisheries Committee of the Russian Federation has been transformed into the Federal Agency of Fisheries.

The decree stipulates that the Ministry of Agriculture of Russian Federation shall now be in charge of Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor, the Federal Agency of Forestry and the Federal Fisheries Agency.

The Federal Fisheries Agency will be headed by Andrey Krainy, who led the State Fisheries Committee now set to undergo the process of transformation.