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Russia seizes two Japanese fishing boats

TOKYO: Two Japanese trawlers have been seized by the Russian coast guard in the northern Sea of Okhotsk on suspicion of illegal fishing, a Japanese maritime official said on Sunday.

The captured boats arrived on Saturday in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, said Mitsuru Akiyama, an official at the Maritime Safety Agency's Second Regional Maritime Safety Headquarters.

Their crews were suspected of under reporting the size of their catch and of using fishing implements banned under a convention between Japan and Russia, Akiyama said. The Maritime Safety Agency is Japan's coast guard.

The seizures came after the Russian coast guard inspected the trawlers on Thursday while they were fishing the waters southwest of Kamchatka, he said.

The Japanese official identified the two vessels as the 279-ton Shoju Maru No. 21, carrying a crew of 19, and the 279-ton Daitoku Maru No. 11, with a crew of 21.

Crews caught fishing illegally are typically fined and may have their vessels impounded, he said.

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is located about 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) northeast of Tokyo.ÑAP