AFRICA DAILY
← WATER WORLD  |  Home WATER WORLD

Senegal to release Russian trawler in fishing row: Moscow

by Staff Writers Moscow (AFP) Jan 21, 2014 AFP

Moscow said Tuesday that Senegalese authorities would release the Russian trawler Oleg Naydenov after impounding the ship for two weeks over alleged illegal fishing.

Yury Parshev, acting director of Feniks, the firm in Russia's northwestern city of Murmansk that owns the trawler, said the Senegalese authorities were processing paperwork to let the ship go.

"Senegalese authorities confirmed the trawler's release," he told Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

The conditions for the release were not immediately clear.

Senegal impounded the Oleg Naydenov on January 4 after accusing it of illegal fishing in its waters, causing an uproar in the Russian press.

Senegalese Fisheries Minister Haidar El-Ali said earlier that the government had asked the ship to pay a fine of 400 million CFA francs (about $825,000) and further more substantial compensation for losses to the fishing community.

However Russia has denied any wrongdoing and even accused Senegal of piracy, while the owner of the Oleg Naydenov threatened to sue Senegal in a maritime court.

The drama in west Africa followed last year's impounding by Russia of the Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise after the group's protest against oil drilling in the Barents Sea. The ship is still in the port of Murmansk.

Buy Advertising About Us Editorial & Other Enquiries Privacy statement
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, is Copyright 1995-2026 Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principles for news reporting and research purposes.