Russia out as head of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization

Russia has stepped aside as head of an international body that manages high-seas fish stocks as fallout from the invasion of Ukraine ripples into the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, which sets quotas in international waters.

Temur Tairov of the Russian Federation, who was elected last September as NAFO's new president and commission chair, stepped down from his role at the Halifax-based organization on March 2.

While Tairov left the post in part for health reasons, there was also the question of whether he could appropriately serve during the ongoing war, according to NAFO executive secretary Fred Kingston.

Both Russia and Ukraine are members of the 13-nation regional fisheries management organization. 

"If Russia had not stepped aside, I think they would have been asked to step aside," said environmentalist Susanna Fuller of Oceans North, an accredited observer at NAFO.

NAFO has also indefinitely postponed an in-person meeting planned for later this month to manage shrimp "due to current circumstances."

New chair selected

Tairov referred questions to the Russian Federation, which did not respond to a request for comment.

American Deirdre Warner-Kramer has taken over as acting chair of the commission.

Kingston said there is nothing in NAFO's convention that can force a member country, known as a contracting party, out of the organization.

"As far as the secretariat is concerned, it deals with contracting parties equally unless we've had instructions from our commission, which we haven't," he said.

The war in Ukraine has forced nations belonging to co-operative intergovernmental bodies like NAFO to consider how to respond.

In early March, Canada and all other member nations of the Arctic Council — except Russia — suspended their work in protest.

Last week, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea indefinitely suspended Russian participation in the science-based organization. Canada is one of the council's 20 members.

'Nothing is off the table'

A spokesperson for federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said allies continue to evaluate Russia's participation in international organizations.

"Removing Russia entirely from NAFO would mean they would no longer be bound to any quota or enforcement measures, as NAFO is a mechanism that allows limitations and regulations to be applied to countries that otherwise are free to fish in international waters (the high seas)," said Claire Teichman in a statement to CBC News.

"We remain very concerned about Russia's actions, and ultimately nothing is off the table."

Fuller said Russia is better in than out.

"As it is a deep-water fishing nation, to then be outside of that rule of international law would be more damaging, I think, to the ecosystem and to the fisheries," she said.