The US has banned the import of fish from Russian waters, but according to German Zverev, president of the All-Russian Association of Fish Producers (WARPE), the decision is more likely to hit US consumers than Russian fishermen.
Zverev noted to PRIME that since 2014, pollock imports from Russia to the United States have been gradually decreasing, and Russian fishermen have not been active on the U.S. market.
He emphasized that after the 2022 bans on crab imports, a "crab shortage" in the US emerged, which led to an increase in prices for these seafood products. In addition, the US cod catch has halved in the last ten years and the balance has been maintained by imports, among other things.
In the spring of 2022, a ban on seafood imports from Russia to the U.S. was introduced, and in December 2023, the embargo was extended to seafood caught in Russian waters by third countries or processed by them. In response, Russia also restricted imports of certain seafood products from the U.S. in July 2023.