Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the observed tendency of increasing number of cases of misappropriation of assets belonging to strategic enterprises engaged in water biological resource collecting (fishing). Despite the significant damage caused to the state by malicious foreign entities, there are no precedents for bringing those responsible to criminal justice for violations of foreign investment legislation. Is this phenomenon due to the lack of public danger posed by the unauthorised “seizure” of Russian strategic enterprises by foreign entities, or is the problem rooted in the imperfection of criminal law? Methods. The methodological basis of the research includes the dialectical method of cognition, general scientific and specific scientific methods, in particular, comparative legal, formal logical and systemic methods. Results. Reasonable grounds have been established indicating that violations of legislation restricting foreign participation in the fishing industry may pose a public danger, causing harm to the state and economic relations. The seizure of assets belonging to fishing enterprises results in the illegal fishing of aquatic biological resources. A comparison of criminal law provisions with the specifics of the aforementioned violation in the field of fishery leads to the conclusion that there are no legal standards providing for criminal liability directly for such a violation. At the same time, the offences analysed in the study do not exclude the possibility of applying other provisions of criminal law to the phenomenon under consideration.