Russian coastal guards detain poacher boat after 6 hours of chase in Sea of Okhotsk

After six hours of chase, Russian coastal guards have detained a foreign boat flying the flag of Togo poaching crabs in the Sea of Okhotsk near the coast of Russia’s Far Eastern peninsula, the press service of the eastern Arctic border department of the Russian Federal Security Service said on Thursday.

The press service said a coastal patrol boat had spotted a foreign vessel "not positioned in the system of sectoral monitoring" in the Okhotsk Sea. The captain tried to escape. After a six-hour chase, the boat was finally detained and escorted to the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

"It has been established that the vessel is the fishing boat Asen flying the flag of Togo. The home port is Lome, Togo. All of the 19 crew members are Russian nationals," the press service said.

The boat is equipped to transport live crabs and frozen water bio resources. The captain did not produce any ship documents, technical means of control, fishing permits. The boat did not pass through sea check points.

"Fragments of crab legs were found aboard the boat," the press service said.

An administrative case was opened on charges of violations of fishing rules, which may carry a fine and possible forfeit of the boat.