In July 2003, the significant reform of the fishing quota system in Russia started to eliminate the authority of Goskomrybolovstvo to allot fishing quotas. The reform followed a series of corruption scandals and murders of governors. The head of Goskomrybolovstvo Aleksandr Moyseev invited Tugushev to join the committee to help in reforming the quotas system. In September 2003, Tugushev was appointed as the deputy head of Moyseev by order of then-prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov.
