Recent amendments to the federal law on fishing and the conservation of aquatic biological resources will modify the regulations for traditional fishing by Indigenous peoples in Kamchatka. Starting in 2027, individuals belonging to the Indigenous minorities of the North will transition to an application-free fishing procedure. To qualify for this system, individuals must be officially registered in a centralized database managed by the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs.
Individuals who are not currently included in this registry must submit a formal application to the North-Eastern Territorial Administration of the Federal Agency for Fishery – Rosrybolovstvo – by September 1. A transitional period will be in effect until 2028, after which inclusion in the national registry will become a strict prerequisite for individual traditional fishing. Any fishing activity conducted outside of this framework will be legally classified as poaching.
The regulatory framework for Indigenous communities operating collectively remains unaffected by these legislative changes. The right to harvest aquatic biological resources for these organized groups will continue to depend on the timely submission of applications and the subsequent authorization by the relevant state authorities.