The Ministry of the Environment has learned that the fishing vessel may have a technical fault which is preventing the ship from leaving port immediately. Employees of the Environmental Inspectorate and the Estonian Maritime Administration boarded the vessel yesterday and the Ministry of the Environment is currently awaiting the results of the checks carried out by the Maritime Administration regarding the technical condition of the Pavlovsk. “The European Union is a party to the NEAFC agreement and as such the Commission’s regulations are also valid in Estonia,” explained Ain Soome, head of the Ministry of the Environment’s Fish Resources Department. “As such the vessel is not allowed to enter any other Estonian port.” Neither is the black-listed ship permitted to be serviced in ports or by vessels flying the Estonian flag at sea. In the case of the Pavlovsk it is also appropriate to take into consideration the regulation adopted by the European Union Council of Members on 24 October 2006 approving the fishing options and conditions for declared fish stocks and fish stick groups for 2006, which applies to all of the union’s waters and in waters where fishing restrictions are in place on the union’s fishing vessels. The regulation also sets out those ships which have been listed by the NEAFC as having been involved in illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing and places a ban on them entering EU member state ports. The regulation came into effect today, 26 October.
Director, Fish Resources Department, Estonian Ministry of the Environment Telephone: +372 626 0711 Mobile: +372 512 0430 |
