Russia’s fishery agency Rosrybolovstvo is moving forward with a plan that could lead to the country unilaterally increasing its pollock quota in the Bering Sea by 36 percent, or 150,000 metric tons.

The regulators are proposing that the pollock harvest in the West Bering Sea zone be increased 36.4 percent to 559,000 metric tons, and the new pollock quota in the Chukotka Zone set at 7,000 metric tons, a 2,000-metric-ton-increase from the current quota.

Russian scientists from Vladivostok-based fishery research center TINRO justified the move because of an absence of any quota-sharing agreement between the United States and Russia within the Bering Sea.