Foreign Ship Held for Poaching in Russia’s Far East

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian border guards have detained a foreign fishing vessel suspected of poaching off the country's east coast, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday.

The Panama-flagged refrigerated fishing vessel Asari was detained in the Sea of Okhotsk off the North Kuril Islands Tuesday. The fourteen crew onboard, who were all Russian, did not have documents permitting them to fish in Russian territorial waters, the FSB said.

The vessel initially failed to respond when ordered to stop by a patrol boat. “After a two-hour-long chase and a series of preventive measures the ship was stopped,” the FSB said.

The ship was escorted to the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where its captain faces administrative charges.