MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/: The Border Service of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Far East’s Sakhalin Region confirmed on Monday that a Japanese fishing vessel has been released after paying a fine.
The captain of the vessel, Shoyo Maru No. 68., was found guilty of violating fishing rules in Russia’s territorial waters. "After the fine was paid, the administrative arrest of Japanese vessel was lifted and the ship left the Yuzhno-Kurilsk maritime terminal," the press service said.
Earlier, the Kyodo news agency reported that the vessel had been released and was due to return later in the day to Nemuro, a port city in Japan’s northern Hokkaido prefecture.
According to the Border Service, an illegal catch of some 1,100 kg biological resources was found onboard the vessel.
On January 15, Russian border guards escorted the Japanese vessel to the Kunashir Island, part of the Kuril Islands archipelago, to carry out an inspection. The vessel belongs to a company based in Nemuro. The ship, with six crew members onboard, was poaching cod.
Late last year, five Japanese vessels were also detained by Russian border guards off the Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific Ocean. They had caught some 7.5 tonnes of octopus more than mentioned in their documents. After paying a fine, the vessels were released and returned back to Hokkaido.
