The Russian Prosecutor's Office launches a criminal case against a Chinese trawler captain

The nature preservation Prosecutor's Office on the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka (the Far East) has launched a criminal case against the captain of a Chinese trawler. He was detained for illegal fishing in the exclusively economic zone of the Russian Federation.

As RIA Novosti was told by the nature preservation prosecutor of the Kamchatka region, Alexander Teplyakov, the captain of the Ming Chang ship, Hu Wei Guang, will be accused of exceeding his authority and illegal fishing in the Barents Sea.

Under the Russian legislation, the captain may be sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Two Chinese ships were detained when the catch was being overloaded from one ship to the other. According to Teplyakov, the captain of the second ship will most likely be also brought to trial.

The Russian marine inspectors have found much more fish in the Ming Chang trawler and the Ming Fu transport refrigerator, which belong to the enterprise in the Chinese city of Zhouwushan, than was stated in the ships' documents.