On December 13 Russian border guard has detained four Japanese fishing vessels for illegally fishing near Russia’s South Kuril Islands, a former Japanese territory. After trial the Russian authority has handed over the four captains to Japan. According to a press statement by the spokesman of Russian border guard a Japanese vessel entered Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, where it was met by border guards, who delivered the captains on board.
The spokesman informed that the fishing vessels would remain under arrest in the Shikotan Island port. The four captains were found guilty of border violations and sentenced them to a fine of $4,117. Illegal fishing is frequent in Russia’s Pacific waters and so the confrontations over poaching between Russian authorities and Japanese vessels are also on high.
Even a Japanese fisherman was shot dead near Kuril Islands in 2006 when Russian border guard opened fir at his boat after it refused to stop fishing in Russian waters. For over 60 years both Russia and Japan have contested the ownership of the Kuril Islands, a dispute that has kept the two nations from signing a formal peace treaty after World War II. Since then the controversy over Kuril Islands is going on and the fishermen always detained by each other authorities.
