Norway’s coastguard nets Russian fishing vessel

A Russian fishing vessel called Tynda has been detained by Norway's coastguard for illegal fishing within the Scandinavian country's economic zone.

“The trawler was fishing for herring in the area of Norway's economic zone, which has been closed to fishing since October 15,” a Russian fishery official Valentin Balashov explained to RIA Novosti news agency. “But the captain of the ship for some reason continued fishing and caught a total of 160 metric tons of herring,” Mr Balashov added.

The trawler, Tynda, was stopped and examined, and will now have to pay bail in the Norwegian port of Tromso. The ship’s owner will also have to pay a fine to be set by a Norwegian court.    

Russia and Norway have been involved in a decades-long dispute over maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea.     

This isn’t the first case of detention of Russian fishing ships in the area.