Far East Border Guards Detain Foreign Vessel [flying Cambodia's flag of convenience] for Poaching

16/03/2012
Sergei Krasnoukhov
RIA Novosti (Russia)

Border guards in Russia’s Far East detained on Friday a foreign fishing vessel that carried some 16 metric tons of poached live sea urchins, Natalia Yershova, a spokeswoman for local border guards, said.

She said border guards detected Winner-2 vessel, flying the flag of Cambodia, in the exclusive Russian economic zone to the south-east of the Shikotan Island and asked the ship to stop for an inspection.

Flags of convenience coming down

Oct 17, 2011
Lyudmila Morozova
RIA Novosti

Russia, Cambodia and Sierra Leone have decided to fight against poaching seriously. Owing to agreements concluded by the Russian Fishing Agency, the so-called “flags of convenience” under which the owners of ships of some countries sail their ships to reduce expenses have lessened. Cambodia and Sierra Leon agreed to include the trawlers registered under their flags in the international register. This means that sailing ships under the flags of these countries has ceased to be suitable for poaching.

Sailing ships under foreign flags is quite common among the owners of trawlers. This makes it possible for them to sell their catch without red tape and paying large sums in taxes and customs duties only at the ports in South-East Asia. Ships under “flags of convenience” basically sail towards these ports.

Until recently, the ship owners preferred to sail their ships under the flags of Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Belize or Panama. In fact this was not so costly. To register a ship under, say Cambodia or Sierra Leone flag costs from 3 to 5 thousand U.S. dollars. The package of registration documents can be acquired any where, including at Russian ports and even in Moscow.

Cambodia's flag of "convenient SHAME"

Cambodian vessel detained in Russia for poaching

Moscow, July 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russian border guards have detained a Cambodia-flagged vessel suspected of poaching crab in Russian waters, officials said Monday.

A border guards spokesman said the vessel was detained in the Sea of Okhotsk.

The fishing vessel Nardin with 18 Russian crew members onboard attempted to escape after it was discovered by the border guards.

After a six-hour pursuit, a Federal Security Service aircraft joined in and forced the suspected poachers to stop.

Four poaching vessels detained near Sakhalin [... all flying Cambodia's flag of convenience]

Jul 1, 2011
Ria Novosti (Russia)

Four poaching ships sailing under the flag of Cambodia have been detained near Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East by border guards over the past few days.

According to the FSB of the Russian Federation agents discovered more than 40 tons of illegally caught live crabs in the holds of the ships.

The captains and all of the poachers on board will be prosecuted.

In recent months, the border guards on Sakhalin Island have detained more than 20 ships which have violated Russian law.

Two vessels [flying Cambodian flag of convenience] detained near FE coast for illegal crab catching

19.10.2007
Itar-Tass News Agency (Russia)

VLADIVOSTOK, October 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Two vessels flying the Cambodian flag were detained near the Primorsky Territory’s coast on Friday for illegally catching crabs.

About five tonnes of fish used as bait and tanks prepared for live crabs were found aboard a trawler. The captain did not present any permitting documents, the press service of the Primorsky territorial boarder guard department told Itar-Tass.

A schooner was also detained for poaching there. Boarder guards found almost 16 tonnes of live crabs aboard. The poachers either did not present any documents allowing fishing in the Russian economic zone.

The two vessels were escorted to the port of Nakhodka for investigation. After examination by specialists, the crabs most likely will be returned back into the sea. The day before, boarder guards set free 4,430 live crabs seized from poachers, thus preventing over-3.6-million-rouble damage to the state.