Presidential Decree No. 253 on additional measures related to the development of fisheries and aquaculture in Azerbaijan and amendments to some decrees and orders of the President of Azerbaijan in this regard.

The purpose of this Decree is to develop the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the country, including increasing productivity, improving the management and control system in this area, managing fish resources taking into account the impact on the environment, as well as organizing, regulating and modernizing fishing and aquaculture farms. This Decree establishes the Fisheries and Aquaculture Center under the Ministry of Agriculture to operate in the field of fisheries, including aquaculture, organization and management, as well as the increase, use, protection and control of fish and other aquatic bioresources. The Center shall register aquaculture farms, as well as fishing entities engaged in fishing and other aquatic bioresources in the electronic agriculture information system, inform entrepreneurs in the field, as well as form a fishery subsystem. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources shall take measures, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, to conduct monitoring of aquaculture farms that are actually operating in the country and those that are not registered, with an assessment of their environmental impact, in order to maintain farm records.
This Decree makes amendments in the Water Code, Fisheries Law, Law on hunting, Code on administrative violations, Presidential Decree No. 962 of 2016, and the Presidential Decree No. 975 of 2020, as regards the Ministry of Agriculture as the competent authority in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture. It also amends the Presidential Decree No. 897 of 2019 regarding the creation of fishery subsystem in the electronic agriculture information system, issuance of the relevant registration certificate, accounting of facilities engaged in fisheries and aquaculture, agreements on the increase and restoration of fish and other aquatic bioresources in aquaculture farms by state order, quota allocation, registration of applications for the issuance of land plots and fishing permits on which these farms are located, and the agreements on the allocation of fishing grounds for industrial fishing. The Presidential Decree No. 226 of 2005 has also been amended concerning the duties of the Ministry of Agriculture in the fields of marine and inland fisheries, and aquaculture and mariculture to develop the sectors and to ensure sustainable use and conservation of fish and aquatic organisms.