Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the main challenge of the fisheries management in northwestern Russia has been to adapt to ever more quickly changing surroundings, This article reviews the efforts of different management bodies to secure autonomy from industry interests, as well as the quest of regional authorities to attain control of the quota distribution, Major changes have in effect occurred in the Russian enforcement control of the Barents Sea, partly as a result of co-operation with Norwegian authorities. In the quota distribution, however, autonomy and regionalisation are still quite uncertain quantities. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.