NIARA CREW NOT GUILTY

The Niara Ukrainian fishing boat, impounded the Sunday before last by Georgian coast guards for the alleged “violation of the sea border and illegal fishing,” in fact, “did not violate anything,” according to its owner, Kryminternafta head Mykola Muravlenko. In his view, the Niara put out from its homeport of Kerch for fishing under a contract with the Novorossiysk Fishing Company, which purchased a license to catch 8,000 tons of khamsa fish in Abkhasian waters. The Kerch ship had a right to catch 35,000 tons, but she caught only 20,000 before being detained. Georgian coast guards stopped the vessel and ordered it to go to Poti. Ten crewmembers are onboard the vessel. Mobile phone connection with them is blocked.

Simultaneously, the commander of Georgia’s Coatst Guards Service at the Border Guards Department Koba Bochorishvili claims that Ukrainian fishing boat was detained by Georgia’s Coast Guards Service for “violation of the sea border and illegal fishing.” He also stated that the vessel “intruded on the Abkhazian segment of Georgia’s territorial waters without permission and was stopped three miles from the port of Ochamchira.” Mr. Bochorishvili says that all ten members of the Ukrainian crew feel fine and have the opportunity to go out to the city. Ukraine’s consulate in Georgia was informed on the incident. “We gave an opportunity to the ship’s captain to speak by phone with representatives of the Ukrainian consulate and also make a call to Kerch,” Mr. Bochorishvili said. According to the local legislation, the vessel will have to pay fine of $120,000 for violating Georgia’s sea border and illegal fishing. During the last eighteen months Georgian border guards have stopped over twenty foreign vessels for sea border violation, more than half of them Turkish. It seems, however, that this time the Ukrainian boat fell prey to controversies between Georgia’s central government and that of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic.