Russia detains Norwegian vessel for illegal fishing
Coast guards in Russia's northwest region of Murmansk said on Monday they had detained a Norwegian vessel in the country's commercial waters for fishing violations, RIA Novosti reports.
According to Russian authorities, the Geir vessel was detained on Sunday while fishing in Russia's commercial waters without proper notification and is currently being escorted to the port of Murmansk.
"The vessel with 15 crew on board was stopped and inspected in the 200-mile commercial zone," said Alexei Astashkin, a spokesman for the region's Coast Guard service.
"An investigation revealed that the vessel failed to report passing a checkpoint on the entry to the Russian commercial zone and started fishing without notifying Russian authorities," he said.
The Geir is owned by HP Holmeset AS of Vatne. It is expected to arrive in Murmansk on Tuesday.
If the Russian authorities prove that the Norwegian vessel was involved in illegal fishing, the captain of the ship will be fined.
Russia and Norway have been involved in a decades-long dispute over maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea, which is rich in oil and gas reserves, as well as fishing resources.
In November last year, Norway's coastguard detained Russia's Tynda fishing ship on suspicion of illegally fishing in its waters, but the vessel was later released with the 170 metric tons of herring on board.
In October 2005, Norway pursued the Russian vessel Elektron with two Norwegian inspectors on board across the Barents Sea for five days. The inspectors had become stranded on the Russian ship after trying to detain it for illegal fishing.