Thursday, August 20, 2015

Trip to the Taran Cape and beyond. Continued: The battle against poachers.



June 30, 2015.
The first boat was on the run, as soon as it saw us.  Nevertheless we got close to the boat and managed to talk to the intruders. Since they did not actively fish, there were no legal grounds for the penalty, so the rangers gave the boat owner a warning. During the dialogue the intruders argued that the fish is not under the reserve's protection, because the reserve was set “to PROTECT THE STELLER’S SEA EAGES”. This made our day.


The second boat with intruders were the local boat inspection with all heads of the GIMS (boat inspection abbreviation, part of the Ministry of Emergency Situations”). Technically, they are not intruders, because they always can claim that they were looking for unregistered boats, but the fishing gear and heavy drinking were obvious. Imagine, you got a US Coast Guard vessel with a drinking party onboard? Something like that…


The third boat did get a ticket. A serious man with 2 bodyguards never stopped fishing; no they left the 2 km protected zone.  




Still, the question remains, why, given the whole of the Sea of Okhotsk, did the poachers want to fish at the Magadan Reserve Protected waters (not the best for fishing)?

Meanwhile we were making the turn back as the fog was overwhelming...

1 comment:

  1. That is a very nice boat. It seems like some people in Magadan have money

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