CLAIMS: Russian crew contends 77 tons of salmon were caught in legal waters.

By Jim Paulin
Anchorage Daily News Correspondent

(Published Anchorage Daily News: August 11, 2001)

UNALASKA—The seized Russian factory trawler Petropavlovsk remains tied up in Unalaska with 77 tons of salmon onboard. Meanwhile, a foreign company is trying to seize the vessel in federal court, and a lawyer representing the boat blames an inaccurate map for getting the trawler in trouble with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Authorities plan tests to see if the salmon were of Alaska origin or whether they were taken lawfully on the Russian side of the Bering Sea.

The 309-foot vessel remains in the custody of the National Marine Fisheries Service, with the 81 crewmen detained onboard. It was seized by the Coast Guard cutter Storis for fishing for pollock several miles inside U.S. waters in the Bering Sea more than two weeks ago.

The seizure was the first of the summer for the Coast Guard, whose cutters and C-130 aircraft regularly patrol the Maritime Boundary Line separating Russia and Alaska. Last year six vessels were seized, resulting in millions of dollars in actual or pending civil fines.

Settlement negotiations are continuing between the U.S. attorney's office in Anchorage and representatives of the Russian fishing company BLAF Joint Stock, said assistant U.S. attorney James Barkeley.

But another company in the Mediterranean republic of Cyprus, J.V. Ocean Fisheries Cyprus Ltd., filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Anchorage claiming ownership of the Petropavlovsk, formerly named Galina. Court papers detail a complex struggle for control of the boat.

U.S. authorities, in court papers filed in Anchorage on July 31, detailed the contents of the trawler's fish hold, which was primarily salmon, 77 tons in all, plus about 10 tons of pollock and 22 tons of fish meal.

Dan Harris, a Seattle attorney representing BLAF, said the salmon was legitimately caught in Russia, and not by the Petropavlovsk.

"They don't even have the equipment to catch salmon," he said. "It was caught off the coast of Kamchatka, and it was tendered to the Petropavlovsk."

Alaska salmon fishermen, especially those fishing the large Bristol Bay sockeye runs, suspect foreign fishing vessels of taking Alaska-origin salmon at sea. North Pacific salmon stocks are governed by international treaty, and high-seas interception of migrating fish is generally discouraged.

Harris said laboratory analysis should establish the salmon's origin.

"I believe the Coast Guard has taken a sample of that salmon. We're fully confident it will show it has been taken in Kamchatka," he said.

As for the charge of illegal fishing in U.S. waters, Harris said that the facts are not in dispute and that the vessel's crew cooperated with the Coast Guard. Harris said the problem was with a map that was off by 10 miles.

"The map was wrong. They bought it from some Russian company that was certified by the government to do these maps, and the map was flat wrong. They're going to be suing that company in Russia to get back everything this case has cost them. It already cost them dearly, just in lost fishing time, to fly two people over here, attorney's fees, etc."

Jim Paulin is a reporter for KIAL Radio in Unalaska. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text91816 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .