Korean vessels fined for illegal fishing

Korean vessels fined for illegal fishing
April 29 2009 at 08:37PM, iol.co.za

The captain and first officer of two Korean-flagged ships have been sentenced to a fine of R500 000 or five years in prison each for contravening their permit conditions, environment officials said on Wednesday.

The crew of the MFV Oryong 371 and the MFV Oryong 373 were found guilty of contravening the Marine Living Resources Act of 1998.

"A total of 667kg undeclared shark fins was also confiscated. They omitted the fact that they had shark fins on the vessel from their permits."

The vessel was also found guilty of illegally off-loading 18,1 tons of fish from one vessel to another.

The MFV Oryong 373 off-loaded 389kg of shark fin, more than the limit stipulated on its permit.

Moses said the crew of both vessels cut shark fins from the trunks and threw the bodies back into the water - in contravention of international fishing conservation measures.