Georgian Coast Guard Detain Turkish Fishing Boat Crew

TRABZON - Georgian coast guard seized a Turkish fishing boat and detained 17-member crew 20-25 miles off Suhumi, Georgia early on January 4 on charges of 'violating Georgian territorial waters and illegal fishing'.
Speaking to the A.A correspondent, Alaaddin Aydin from Turkish Abal fishing company that owns the boat said on Tuesday that their company had international fishing certificate and their crew had been fishing in international economic area.
''We submitted necessary applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Maritime Undersecretariat. Serafettin Aydin who is one of the shareholders of our company is trying to reach Georgian authorities. We try to understand what they want. The boat was carrying 2,400 boxes of frozen anchovy. We learned that Georgian officials had seized and taken them away,'' he said.
(MS-AÖ) 06.01.2004