The boat “Reinbøen” from the village of Berlevåg on Norway’s Barents Sea coast has been in arrest in Murmansk since last week. So has the crew five, reports Nordlys.
It was Thursday the Russian coastguard arrested the boat and claimed the furthest out fishing buoy was east of the maritime borderline.
“Just nonsense. We were a mile west of the border,” says Terje Andersen, owner of the small fishing boat. Although he doubts having done anything illegal, Andersen praises the Russian inspectors as very professional and kind. Two of Andersen’s fellow crew-members are from Lithuania and speaks fluently Russian.
“Reinbøen” has been to port in Murmansk all weekend. Fish inspectors are counting the part of the fish supposedly catch in Russian waters and Andersen says to Nordlys that he expects to get a fine.
With a sense of humor, Terje Andersen says they can only observe Murmansk from the port while Russian officials hold them in arrest.
“They carefully count each fish, while we are not allowed to disembark the boat. It is damn that we can’t even go and get a beer. I have never been to Murmansk before.”
