Russian trawler flees inspection outside Norway.

Redleg

Redleg

The fire is everything
Staff member
A high-seas drama was playing out in the Arctic waters of the Barents on Monday, after a Russian trawler resisted a Norwegian Coast Guard arrest order and fled with two Norwegian inspectors on board. The captain of a Norwegian Coast Guard ship was considering firing on the trawler.
The Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Tromsø was considering firing on a Russian trawler accused of several fishing violations.

The Russian trawler Elektron had been stopped and boarded by the Norwegian Coast Guard on Saturday morning, in the Barents Sea near the border of an area where fishing rights are disputed.

Two Norwegians from the Coast Guard vessel KV Tromsø, an officer and a crew member, were still on board when the Elektron refused to follow the Norwegian Coast Guard's orders to proceed to Tromsø.

Instead, the Elektron began sailing away with the Norwegian inspectors on board after they had uncovered several illegalities, including illegal use of nets and catching undersized fish.

The Norwegian Coast Guard had declared the Russian trawler formally under arrest, and the trawler initially accepted the arrest order, according to Steve Olsen, squadron chief for the Coast Guard's northern division /Kystvakt Nord.
Click to expand...

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1136441.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4351136.stm

Four Norwegian Coast Guard vessels have now been able to surround the trawler, but it's no easy task since the waves are around 8-9 meters high right now.

The Norwegian inspectors do still have radio contact with the Coast Guard, and it appears that they have been threated ok by the Russian crew

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=293727
 
The trawler is still being chased, being only 20 hours from Russian waters as this is written. The consideration of opening fire at the trawler is still present and the Defence Minister is being briefed on the situation, and will if necessary, give the authorization to use any means possible to stop the vessel.

Source Kanal24 morning news 06:30
 
The Russian trawler "Elektron", which evaded an arrest for illegal fishing by escaping with two Norwegian inspectors on board, has made it back to national waters

"The situation now is that the trawler is being escorted inside the Russian territorial border by the Russian navy vessel "Admiral Levchenko". We are staying on the outside of the border with two coast guard vessels, and following from there, pending an eventual diplomatic clearance to enter Russian waters in the course of the day," said press spokesman John Espen Lien at Regional Command North (LDKN).

Lien assumes that the Russian will formally arrest the trawler some time Wednesday. Norwegian authorities have been in contact with Russian counterparts during the high seas drama, and are ready to provide their evidence for the violations the "Elektron" is to have committed.

The trawler was en route to Murmansk on Wednesday morning and Norwegian authorities said they would cancel their arrest order once the Russians had implemented their own. The process was being delayed by bad weather conditions.

Specially trained Norwegian soldiers were airlifted to the coast guard vessel (KV) "Tromso", which is monitoring the Russian trawler.
Click to expand...

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1138023.ece

The two Norwegian inspectors still haven't been released, so the captain may also be charged for kidnapping now. :?
 
Update on this story is that the Norwegian gouverment decided to take control of the Elektron six months earlier (back in March 2005) as the vessel turned out to be sailing with no ship ID and call signs doing illegal fishing.

Fiskeridirektoratet (an agency for the control of fishing quotas and related) collected evidence against 70 Russian trawlers in the Barents Sea and Elektron was one of them. When the vessel carelessly entered Norwegian waters the coast guard took action.

This case goes further than that - former ministers of Russia, a Norwegian trading company and other European companies and VIPs are believed to take part of these activities. European ports lack control of the fish delivered by Russian trawlers and are free to be sent on the European marked. This uncontrolled industry is a major economial and enviromental problem.

Last year, the marked value of these illegal activities were total of USD 142.857 million.
 
This case goes further than that - former ministers of Russia, a Norwegian trading company and other European companies and VIPs are believed to take part of these activities. European ports lack control of the fish delivered by Russian trawlers and are free to be sent on the European marked. This uncontrolled industry is a major economial and enviromental problem.

Last year, the marked value of these illegal activities were total of USD 142.857 million.
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I can add to this that the Russians who live in Murmansk do believe in some conspiracy aiming to push the Russian fishermen to sell their catch in Norway, not in Russia. All kinds of taxes, fines, regulations, etc. make the their return home with fish very inconvenient. in the same time, they can barter their catch in Norway for some Western goods+money with minimal formalities. And see their catch in the russian shops few days later imported from Norway...
 
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