home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- WORLD, Page 37World NotesHIGH SEASCatch of The Day
-
-
-
- When Soviet patrol boats seized a fleet of North Korean
- fishing vessels operating in the restricted northern Pacific
- early last month, the Soviets themselves were caught by
- surprise. The twelve ships flying North Korean flags in fact
- belonged to Japan, and most of the crewmen under arrest were
- Japanese.
-
- Moscow and Tokyo have an agreement that limits the annual
- catch Japan can take from those waters. According to Japanese
- investigators, the Shoho Fisheries Co. struck a deal with a
- North Korean fishing outfit to lease Japanese boats and market
- the catch, rigging the ships with Korean flags to circumvent
- the Japanese quota.
-
- Soviet fisheries officials denounced the scheme as
- "malicious poaching." But neither Japan nor the Soviet Union
- wants to turn the case into a major issue while they try to
- improve relations. Soviet authorities have informally indicated
- that they will soon release most of the 169 fishermen detained
- at Shikotan Island.
-
-
-
-
-
-