The Senegal authorities have arrested a Russian trawler and escorted it to the port of Dakar, saying that the vessel has been fishing illegally it its territorial waters and now faces a fine of 600,000 euros.
The Oleg Naydenov trawler was stopped by the Senegal military 46
miles off the shore of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa on Saturday.
Four soldiers “armed with automatic weapons” from
Senegal’s navy ship, Ferlo, boarded the Russian vessel
“without explanation or any apparent reason,” Aleksandr
Savelyev, a spokesman for Russia's federal fisheries agency
Rosrybolovstvo, told Interfax.
According to the spokesman, the soldiers ordered captain, Vadim
Mantorov, to proceed to the Senegal warship with them, but he
refused to obey.
“Then Senegalese troops attempted to bring him to the
military vessel by force, but the first mate announced a general
ship alarm,” Savelyev said.
The captain remained aboard the Oleg Naydenov vessel, but was
removed from command and handcuffed.
There were 62 Russians and 20 Guinea-Bissau citizens aboard the
fishing ship when it was arrested.
The Oleg Naydenov is owned by Feniks (Phoenix) company, which has
its headquarters in the city of Murmansk in the northwestern part
of Russia.
After being stopped, the trawler was escorted to the port of
Dakar in Senegal where it’s impounded at a military base and
heavily guarded, Yury Parshev, Feniks CEO, told RIA-Novosti news
agency.
According to Parshev, the passports were taken away from all of
the people aboard the Oleg Naydenov.
The Russian captain was later able to contact the ship-owner via
radio, saying that several crew members, including him, required
medical attention due to the violent actions of Senegalese
soldiers.
Mantorov was bruised during the arrest, with the trawler’s
barmaid apparently receiving an arm fracture. Several
Guinea-Bissau sailors were also hurt as the military were
especially rude while searching them.
Despite his injuries, the captain stressed that he has no
intention of leaving his ship, Rosrybolovstvo said.
Repeat offender?
The Senegal authorities claimed that the Oleg Naydenov has been
stopped for repeatedly fishing illegally in the country’s waters.
“The Oleg Naydenov, this big fishing boat, which you see behind
me and which is 120 meters long... was fishing fraudulently,
without any authorization in Senegalese waters,” Haidar
El-Ali, Senegal’s fisheries minister, told journalists at Dakar’s
port.
The African state has every right to seize the ship and its cargo
and impose a maximum fine of 200 million CFA francs (nearly
305,000 euros) for the violation, he said.
But the Russian trawler will be fined twice as much (around
610,000 euros) as it’s a “repeat offender,” according to
El-Ali.
Senegal “can also take this case to the courts because [the
ship's captain] would not obey,” the minister is cited as
saying by AFP.
“This only made it worse ... They are thugs and we will fight
these thugs,” he said.
According to the minister, the Russian ship was stopped off
southern Senegal, in “a joint area, which we share with
Guinea-Bissau.”
‘Unprecedented military attack’
But the Russian side has denied Senegal’s accusations, with
Rosrybolovstvo spokesman, Aleksandr Savelyev, calling the Oleg
Naydenov’s detention “an unprecedented military attack.”
Savelyev told ITAR-TASS news agency that at the moment of the
arrest the Russian trawler wasn’t performing any fishing
activities.
“The trail net wasn’t in the water. The Oleg Naydenov was moving to another location,” he said.
The spokesman also said claims that Russian ship has previously
received warnings for illegal fishing were false.
The Oleg Naydenov was in Guinea-Bissau, not Senegalese waters
when it was stopped, Savelyev stressed.
As a result, the incident “has outraged not only Russia, but
Guinea-Bissau as well. Guinea-Bissau has already cancelled the
fishery agreement it had with Senegal,” he said.
“It’s all about the money,” the spokesman said when asked
about the possible reasons of the Russian trawler’s detention.
“There’s fierce competition for the fishery resources in the
area.”
Rosrybolovstvo plans to file a note of protest about the stopping
of the Oleg Naydenov to Senegal’s Fisheries Ministry on Monday.
The document, which has already been put together, labels the
action of the Senegalese military as unacceptable and calls for
disputes between Russia and Senegal to be resolved in accordance
with the fishery agreement the two countries have.
The Russian embassy in Senegal has already filed a similar note
with the country’s Foreign Ministry, Andrey Krainiy,
Rosrybolovstvo head, told Dozhd channel.
“On January, 7 the Russian ambassador will hold a meeting with
Senegal’s president (Macky Sall) on Tuesday, which hopefully will
draw a line under this story, and the ship will be
released,” Krainiy stressed.