Joint Order No. 23 of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the Federal Fisheries Agency regarding the elaboration and validation of total allowable catch.

This Joint Order shall apply to catch of aquatic biological resources in internal seas, territorial seas, the continental shelf, EEZ of the Russian Federation and in the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. It establishes that the total allowable catch shall be elaborated and substantiated in accordance with the basin principle distributed by population, species (in some cases by groups of species) based on annual reports on research into resources and on the state of aquatic biological resources. The amount of total allowable catch shall be calculated in tons (wet weight for algae), in tonnes and in pieces for crustaceans and marine mammals. This Joint Order shall not be applicable to protected or endangered species.