SEARCH FOR FISHING TRAWLER-VIOLATOR IS UNSUCCESSFUL SO FAR








VLADIVOSTOK, MARCH 7, 2001 /FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENTS LARISA BELOIVAN AND ANATOLY ILYUKHOV/ -- The active search on the sea and from the air for the border-crossing Maritime trawler STM-17 has borne no fruit so far, chief of the Pacific regional administration of the Federal Frontier Service of Russia General Pavel Tarasenko has reported (the Maritime Territory is in the Far East of Russia).


	He criticized the actions of the Japanese authorities. According to him, they belatedly informed the Russian border-guards that on March 4 night the STM-17 trawler of the Maritime company Klemena left the port of Wakkanai in Japan.


	As the chief of the Pacific regional administration believes, the high-speed trawler which took the sea at night-time with the odds of 10 hours at the minimum could change the course in the open sea. "It is a fair guess that the captain of the craft-violator gave the command to head for an Asian country neighbouring on Japan. The trawler will be repainted there and, avoiding its confiscation by the Russian authorities, will be sold to foreigners", the General believes. 


	Tarasenko stated that the marine border-guards have drawn a lesson from this story and "will, further on, act adequately with regard to poachers but strictly within the limits of the law on the protection of the state border of the Russian Federation".


	As it was reported earlier, a trawler without identification signs was noticed by the Russian border-guards on February 20 in the waters of the northern coast of the Maritime Territory. The captain of the trawler, ignoring the border-guards' commands, headed for the neutral waters at the maximal speed. The pursuit lasted about 24 hours. The border-guards repeatedly opened preventive fire. In the neutral waters the trawler hoisted the colours of Japan, which misled the border-guards. The Japanese side refused to evict the trawler from Wakkanai port, having stated that the Russian fishermen's visas and shipping documents were in order. The trawler, accompanied by two Japanese ships of the agency of  safety on the sea, left Hokkaido island at the request of the Russian authorities only in 11 days.