The Council of Agriculture said yesterday that it will offer all necessary assistance to a Taiwan fishing vessel being detained in Russia, which allegedly trespassed into Russian waters near the Kuril Islands.
The council's Fishery Administration said it is coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ship's owner and the Taiwan Squid Fishing Industry Association to offer timely assistance to the detained Kaohsiung-registered fishing vessel and its crew.
According to council officials, the captain of the Cheng Huei No. 1 deep-sea fishing vessel already briefed the ship's owner on the latest situation.
Both the ship and all crew members are safe, the officials said, adding that they are now staying in the Shikotan Island and may have to stand trial. The vessel has 36 crew members, including five from Taiwan, 23 from China, four from Vietnam and four from the Philippines.
The ship owner has asked its agent to hire a lawyer to assist in handling the case, council officials said, adding that Taiwan's representative office in Moscow will also offer assistance. The ship owner could face a fine for illegally operating in Russia's fishing waters.
The officials said local fishing vessels usually operate in the open seas east of Russia and northeast of Japan between July and November for saury fishing. When the saury fishing season began this year, some 70 Taiwan deep-sea fishing vessels headed for the region.
Saury has been one of Taiwan's major fish staples. Council officials urged local fishermen to stay alert and abide by international fishing regulations to avoid intruding into foreign territorial waters. The Fishery Administration will also strengthen monitoring of Taiwan's deep-sea fishing operations and make every possible effort to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, the officials said.
According to Russian media reports, the Cheng Huei No. 1 trespassed into Russian waters near the Kuril Islands Tuesday and was chased by a Russian vessel after it refused to stop. The Russian patrol boat managed to intercept the ship after it was fired upon, the reports said. Russian TV footage showed an illegal fish catch aboard the ship as well as the damage the vessel sustained from gunfire.
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS