Four Japanese fishing vessels are voluntarily heading to Russia's Pacific coast for additional checks after being stopped in the Russian zone of the Bering Sea with suspected undeclared catch, coast guards said Friday according to RIA Novosti.
The vessels had a permit to catch 1,000 metric tons of pollack and 18 tons of herring, but coast guards found about 5,500 tons of extra undeclared sea catch aboard one of the vessels, according to the Northeast Frontier Department of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The vessels belong to different affiliated shipping companies, and coast guards have moved to conduct additional checks to verify the permitted amount of catch.
The checks will be conducted on the northeast coast of the Kamchatka peninsular in Russia's Far East.
Poaching disputes between Russian authorities and fishing vessels from Japan have been frequent in Russia's Pacific waters.