Japan protests Russia's impounding of fishing boat, detention of crew

A fishery cooperative based in Wakkanai, to which the Eiho Maru belongs, refuted the claim, saying navigational data showed the trawler was operating in Japan's EEZ.

So provide a longitude and latitude position so we all can see it

Japanese boats always doing incursions. Again, no different to CCP.

Russia knows how to spoof/interfere with GPS signals. Not saying they did that, but don't all these vessels have GPS tracking enabled for a few days, rolling data?

If the Russian and Japanese boats GPS agree, then we'll know there isn't any funny business.

If this was the first time that coop did this, fine. Honest mistake. Return the boat and people. If this is a chronic problem, then return the people and keep the boat while a disinterested 3rd party looks at the data from both sides.

So provide a longitude and latitude position so we all can see it

I hope all GPS data is not deleted before returning boat and fishermen.

Is "Japan's EEZ" claimed or actually Japan administered EEZ?

Knowing Japan, it's most certainly the claimed EEZ, which in turn means the fishing boat was operating in Russian EEZ and is subject to Russian fishery laws.

@P.Smith No, I disagree. The Russians have not signed the SF treaty you named, because in their view at that time “that the draft treaty, in violation of the Yalta agreement, did not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands; and other objections. It was not until 19 October 1956, that Japan and the Soviet Union signed a Joint Declaration ending the war and reestablishing diplomatic relations.” (Wiki) You see, even if they had signed, there wouldn’t have been also no complete sovereignty over whole Sakhalin, as they interpret it even themselves. That means , we are still under that joint declaration , so that all questions are still open and therefore also still lead to such aggressive acts like attacking and capturing fishing boats, for example. But that’s still nothing compared with all those almost daily necessary air scrambles, because they come with their fighter jets and challenge the JSDF response capabilities. They ‘play’ in the Northern Territory the same bad game like the Chinese ‘play’ near the Senkakus.

Japan said Thursday it has lodged a protest with Moscow for its decision to impound a Japanese trawler and detain its crew last week after determining the boat was sailing in Russia's exclusive economic zone.

Form the first sentence, it is unclear who determined the boat was in Russia's EEZ.

Later in the article it says that Japan determined the boat was in Japan's EEZ "after speaking with officials from the fishery cooperative."

No way to know from the article what really happened ...

No way to know from the article what really happened ...

Japanese fisherman boat's GPS data and Russian patrol boat's GPS data should officially show for each other. Both governments should work on that. Otherwise no way to be solved.

@obladi

No way to know from the article what really happened ...

Sure there is

Russia was monitoring a Japanese fishing trawler and as soon as it crossed into their EEZ they swooped in and picked it up

Russian border authorities said they took control of the boat last Friday off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido after it was discovered illegally fishing in Russia's EEZ.

A private company denies it

A fishery cooperative based in Wakkanai, to which the Eiho Maru belongs, refuted the claim, saying navigational data showed the trawler was operating in Japan's EEZ.

So from the article I can gather what happened.

The question that remains unanswered is where were they when they got stopped.

Russian border authorities said warning shots were fired to stop the boat as it was attempting to escape from one of its patrol vessels

This action will not get solved quickly. The only real loser are the captain and the crew. Both will not get paid for months plus stuck in a hut with a only axe and tin food on Sakhalin .

The question that remains unanswered is where were they when they got stopped.

Russian border authorities said warning shots were fired to stop the boat as it was attempting to escape from one of its patrol vessels

Any national boats and vessels can go/sail into Japan and Russian EEZ back and forth freely but can't fish in other country's EEZ. I just wonder if Russian patrol saw J fishermen catching sea lives in Russian EEZ or not. This is a big question.

@ Sven

@ Smith said, it is "Japan" that renounced the ... Not Russia.

Totalitarian Russia at it - yet again.

The Japanese ship and crew have been detained for purely political reasons. The government should set a 48 hour deadline to release them, or expel the Russian ambassador from Japan.

I am somehow surprised that there is no Japanese Coast Guard ship around in this area.

This is a very sensitive border and the Japanese Coast Guard should keep an eye on it 24 hours/365 days.

It also should give clear advice to Japanese boats what is Japan and what is Russia in this area and prevent Japanese boats to cross the line for fishing.

This is not the time to be having incidents like this, hopefully this will not escalate.

They trade. But with rules. It’s a big business.

I am somehow surprised that there is no Japanese Coast Guard ship around in this area.

J Coast Guard Ships are patrolling around there regularly, but not many. Most of ships have gone to East China Sea.

Japan better don't mess with the Russians! They sees Japanese fishing boats were spying and testing their patience! The island dispute with Russia is still an issue for two countries never sign a peace treaty! Russia,China, South Korea and North Korea were having enough disputes with Japan, if Japan is aware how much problems of this tense neighbourhood!

Stop kidding yourselves, Japan would have done the exact same thing had the situation been reversed.

Stop kidding yourselves, Japan would have done the exact same thing had the situation been reversed.

We know that isn't true based on prior, similar, instances which have been reported here. Both the boat and people were released by Japan, after making their point.

Russia has seized Japanese boats previously - 2019 and 2009 for claimed fishing in their EEZ. Nishino Maru No. 68 and another boat. They were held a few weeks in Russia until fines were paid to "Russian authorities." I wonder what Putin's cut was.

I can see a boat captain crossing outside their EEZ in search of better fishing. Competition is tough. It isn't like the fish/crabs know these virtual lines.

Russia is guilty of committing cyberwar against the world for several years. Maybe they're pissed off that they don't have a leash on America now and are looking for another nation to toy with.

This comes right after a Russian cargo ship colliding with and sinking a Japanese crab boat in Japanese EEZ waters. Hmmm.

It's is only 45 km or so from Sakhalin's Cape Crillon to Hokkaido's Cape Sōya. EEZs typically extend 200 nautical miles (nm) or 370 km from shore. This implies there is a great deal of overlap between the Japanese EEZ around Hokkaido and the Russian EEZ around Sakhalin Island. I cannot find a map of how the EEZs are drawn in that area but I am sure one has to exist.

Russia is guilty of committing cyberwar against the world for several years.

Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a way to infect every computer with a Cyrillic keyboard with a virus that would, at a set date and time, cause the computer discs of these devices to reformat. imagine, every computer in Russia, every cell phone, everything reformats all at once.

Desert TortoiseJune 5  11:20 am JST

Russia is guilty of committing cyberwar against the world for several years.

Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a way to infect every computer with a Cyrillic keyboard with a virus that would, at a set date and time, cause the computer discs of these devices to reformat. imagine, every computer in Russia, every cell phone, everything reformats all at once.

When you cyberattack a foreign entity, you write your virus/trojan horse code in the target's language in their script. For instance when Russia hacked the electoral college in favor of Trump in 2016, they wrote the hacking virus in English and in Roman letters. When the US disabled the Iranian reactors during the Obama era, a virus written in Farsi with Arabic letters was used. And in the 1999 Kosovo War the Serbs were hit with a trojan horse wriyyen in Serbo-Croatian with Cyrillic script.

So it goes.