Canada boards vessels accused of illegal fishing

Last Updated Thu, 06 May 2004 22:00:53

OTTAWA - Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan confirmed that Canadian officials
boarded five vessels this week accused of illegal fishing off the East
Coast, just outside Canada's 200-mile limit.

The boats, at least two from Portugal, are accused of fishing for cod, a
species currently protected by a moratorium. Three coast guard vessels and
one navy frigate was involved in the confrontation on the high seas, Regan
said.

Regan said the vessels were boarded and inspected this week as a result of
special enforcement on the high seas. He said two citations were issued
against one of the Portuguese vessels for failure to wait 30 minutes before
retrieving gear and for fishing for species under moratorium.

Regan said officials want to further inspect the Portuguese vessel. He said
officials believe evidence was destroyed or tampered with and he said he
asked the Portuguese government and the European Union for permission to
bring the ship to a Canadian port. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham
says he's called in the Belgian and Portuguese ambassadors about the
incident.

Under new rules, Canada has the right to seize vessels outside the economic
zone if it suspects illegal activity. "Foreign overfishing by rogue
ships and their owners is unacceptable to Canadians, to this government and
to me as Prime Minister," Prime Minister Paul Martin said in a
statement.

Regan also announced that the federal government will spend an additional
$15 million to fight illegal fishing. "It is our hope that harassing
these international modern-day pirates on the sea with further boardings
and inspections will help keep them away from the [fish]."

Regan said the money will be used to expand patrols  from one vessel to
three, for round-the-clock sea patrols and to step up boarding activities
on foreign trawlers.

But Conservative leader Stephen Harper said the government's tough new
approach to protecting the fishery is just playing politics before an
election. "I think this is a pre-election show and if they were
serious about this as a policy they would have established it as a practice
over the last several years," Harper said.

Regan said the measures have nothing to do with electioneering and that the
government has been working on new action for "some time."


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