OTTAWA, ON (July 28, 2026):
Vladimir Putin is casting Russia’s Arctic ambitions into unlikely waters. This time, the hook isn’t a warship or an energy project, but the country’s fishing industry.
Recent Russian strategic documents suggest the Kremlin intends to fold civilian fishing fleets into its Arctic security strategy, using them to project influence in the High North and beyond.
In Fishing for Trouble: The fishery and Russia’s quest for Arctic maritime power, Senior Fellow Alexander Dalziel explains how Russia is using its fishing industry as part of a broader strategy to bolster its maritime power, expand its influence abroad – particularly in China, Europe, and the Global South – and reinforce its position in the Arctic.
“In the contestation of disputes over access to Arctic waters, fisheries will be part of the fabric of Russian response and readiness,” writes Dalziel.
“It may also serve as a pretext for conducting high-intensity ‘law enforcement.’ Canada, the United States, and their allies and close partners will need to be on guard.”
According to Dalziel, fishing vessels are becoming part of a broader pattern of hybrid activity at sea: alongside intelligence gathering, they contribute to Russia’s ability to exert influence abroad and maintain economic leverage despite Western sanctions.
Dalziel urges Canada and its partners to strengthen Arctic maritime security in response, by expanding surveillance and intelligence-sharing, enhancing icebreaking capabilities, and working more closely with northern communities and the fishing industry.
“Coast guards, fisheries enforcement agencies, Western diplomats, and Arctic coastal communities … must be prepared for the reality that, under Putin, fishing is not just about fish – it’s about leverage cast far beyond the nets.”
To learn more, read the full paper here:
Alexander Dalziel is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute with over 20 years of experience in Canada’s national security community.
For further information, media are invited to contact:
Skander Belouizdad
Senior Media Relations Officer
(613) 482-8327 x111
Skander.belouizdad@macdonaldlaurier.ca
