As per the probe of a Japan Coast Guard the No. 58 Takamaru and the No. 63 Kiyomimaru were fishing off Kunashir Island, part of the disputed Kuril Island chain, on Jan. 29, when they were shot at by a Russian border patrol helicopter. It is said that these boats have entered Russian waters intentionally. Russian authorities say they were illegally fishing in Russian waters.
Investigation officers revealed that the vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on both trawlers, which monitor a ship’s position and relays it to a station back on land, were disabled for at least four hours. It is confirmed that the crews may have turned them off on purpose. Records show that on the day of the shooting, VMS updates were received every half hour until some time after 8 a.m. However, there were no position updates between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
It is fact that crews have apparently pulled the same trick several times before — since the vessels began operating on Jan. 8, the vessels were untraceable for over two hours on 10 days. Investigation officer informed that it is too artificial. There’s a chance they could be habitually turning it off and operating outside the permitted areas.
