MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries is considering introduction of national certification of aquaculture to protect the national market from imported products of lower quality and to introduce Russian aquaculture products to foreign markets with the use of such certification, Deputy Head of the Agency Vasily Sokolov said.

The national fishing industry faces a number of difficulties this year, the official said. "The sanction policy pursued in respect of the fishing industry is rather tough. Western countries start applying pressure on environmental aspects now," Sokolov noted.

US senators sent an address [to the Marine Stewardship Council] to revoke environmental certification, including the Russian pollock, he said. "The attempt was made thereby to eliminate our competitive advantage," Sokolov stressed. "We are certified, we proved the Russian fisheries are not merely efficient but also environment-focused. Our achievements are attempted to be negated by such methods," the official noted.

"We have a challenging situation evolving in the international market. It is aggravated further by such pressure. Building up exports in this regard are directly linked to the price of products we can supply. Therefore, we are considering now the issue as regards aquaculture in cooperation with aquaculture holdings to introduce our national certification, particularly to protect the Russian market from imported products of lower quality and certainly in order to bring aquaculture products to international export markets in particular with the use of Russian certification," Sokolov said.