A major scandal in the fishing industry of Kamchatka ended with a guilty verdict. The Kuril Fishing Company was found guilty of illegally harvesting the most valuable species of Pacific salmon. The court found that the company’s actions caused enormous damage to the ecosystem of the region, which is estimated at 93.5 million rubles.
During the trial, it was established that at the end of July last year, at the height of the salmon season, the company’s vessels were fishing outside the officially designated fishing areas. In four days, from July 27 to July 30, almost 30 tons of fish were poached, including 372 kilograms of pink salmon, over 12 tons of chum salmon and almost 17.5 tons of sockeye salmon. In order to conceal the offense, the company provided deliberately false information about fishing areas to the regulatory authorities in an attempt to legalize the illegal catch.
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court stated that the Kuril Fishing Company violated a whole range of legislative norms regulating fishing rules and aimed at the conservation and rational use of aquatic biological resources. Attempts by the defense to challenge the charges were unsuccessful. Representatives of the company claimed alleged violations by the coast Guard during the control measures, but were unable to provide the court with any convincing evidence to support their words.
The result of the trial was that the company was found guilty of an administrative offense. All illegally obtained fish, as well as products made from it, are subject to confiscation and seizure. In addition, an administrative fine was imposed on the violator. Its size, according to the legislation, amounted to a one—time cost of illegally extracted biological resources – 3,003,960 rubles.