PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, March 14 (AVN) - A guard-ship of the North-eastern regional border guard department has detained a crabber for poaching near the North Kurile Islands, a department spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Argo vessel owned by the Lotos limited-liability company and hailing from Sakhalin was spotted by the Pagella guard-ship, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. Border guards chased the Argo for 2.5 hours before warning the vessel's captain that fire for effect would be opened in case he kept refusing to stop.
The Argo was first detained for poaching 1999, and border guards chased it for several days that time. Owners of the vessel had to pay a large fine and redeem the seized boat. However the ship's crew violated fishing and border crossing rules once again. According to documents, the vessel was to be in the South Korean port of Pusan on Wednesday.
Having analysed all cases of poaching, the department has come to a conclusion that fishing companies developed a scheme of illegal activity, the spokesman noted. They process documents for a vessel saying that it leaves for a foreign port, usually that of Japan or Korea. Then the vessel heads for the fishing area, obtains fish or sea products, sails to the foreign port without undergoing customs checks and sells fish there, the spokesman said.
The department has teamed up with the customs and State Fishing Committee to work out measures for neutralisation of the criminal scheme.