Seized Russian Vessel Spitak to be Released if Owners Pay $180 K Fine

Seafood.com Aug 30 — By Jim Paulin — UNALASKA—A deal is reportedly in the works to release the seized Russian trawler Spitak, according to Seattle attorney Dan Harris representing the boat's owners. If the new owners can come up with a $180,000 fine by Sept. 5, the boat and its crew can return to Russia. If the money isn't forthcoming, Harris said the government will forfeit the vessel's ownership. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Barkeley in Anchorage declined to comment on the negotiations.

The Spitak is now tied up at Magone Marine Service in Unalaska. Harris said the seizure has caused the previous owners in Magadan to go out of business. The 150-foot catcher vessel is now owned by a company in Vladivostok, which he declined to identify. The Spitak was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Acushnet on July 31 for fishing 800 yards inside U.S. waters in the Bering Sea. Harris said the Spitak wasn't actually fishing, but was rather maneuvering to avoid other vessels in a crowded area. He said the net was floating on top of the water. Indeed, the Coast Guard reported just 50 pounds of pollock in the trawl, worth about $4 based on Dutch Harbor prices.

The seized vessel was escorted to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, and the 20-member crew was later flown to Anchorage in shackles in the custody of Immigration agents in a Coast Guard plane.

The crew is now reluctantly in Anchorage, thanks to federal Judge James Singleton's last-minute injunction granted on the behalf of the vessel's owners who wanted the crew to stay in the U.S. to take the boat back to Russia.

The Magadan Airlines jet stopped taxiing and returned to the terminal at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Aug. 17. The fishermen just wanted to go home to Magadan, and initially refused to get off the plane, according to Immigration and Naturalization Service director Robert Eddy. Following some discussions, they reluctantly disembarked, and were released from INS custody. With no money, they spent that night sleeping in the airport and the next night in a homeless shelter before they were taken in by local Russian families. Barkeley said two weeks ago that the vessel's owner had abandoned their crew.

The Spitak was later joined in Dutch Harbor by another seized foreign vessel, the Chinese factory trawler Ming Chang. Unlike the under-supplied Spitak, the Chinese boat arrived with ample food and is employing a local maritime agency for port services.

[News and commentary written or edited by John Sackton at www.seafood.com, the web site for commercial seafood buyers, sellers and consumers.]