Officers manning the Icelandic Coastguard’s monitoring centre at the weekend noticed a Norwegian longliner in an area closed to fishing.
When contacted by the monitoring centre, the officer on watch on board the longliner confirmed that the vessel was fishing, and was informed that the area was closed to fishing in an area off the south-west of Iceland.
The vessel was directed to proceed to port and on arrival in Reykjavík Coastguard officers, police officers and representatives of the Directorat eof Fisheries interviewed the longliner’s officers and checked catch records and fishing gear.
With the investigation concluded, the Norwegian vessel – reported to be the 53-metre Seir – headed back to sea and the matter is being followed up by the police and Coastguard.
