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Norwegian fishermen are defying a Russian missile exercise and have taken their boats and crews into the target area in the Barents Sea
Norwegian fishing vessels in the north of the country are defying a Russian missile exercise and have taken their boats and crews into the target area.
This is according to a report in The Barents Observer who has reported that Russia has sent 20 warships, submarines, support ships, along with 8,000 service personnel into the Brents Sea for its war games.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration issued NOTAM-warnings for two larger areas north and south of Norway’s Bear Island in the western Barents Sea warning “Impact areas for missiles”.
This event like the event off the south coast of Ireland in late January 2022 is unstoppable for the country in whose EEZ it is being held.
“The Law of the Seas gives states access to conduct military exercises in other states’ 200-mile zones,” spokesperson with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde told the Barents Observer.
“Russia can therefore carry out military training activities in Norwegian 200-mile zone,” she added.
Fishing trawlers and other civilian vessels are warned by Russia’s Sea Port Administration for the European Arctic to keep out of the two large training areas in the western Barents Sea. For the skipper of a fishing vessel, that could mean days without fishing and extra fuel costs by sailing away to safe distance.
The Russian warnings have been in operation from Friday morning, 11 August, and will end this evening, Monday 14 August.
Despite these warning, Norwegian fishing vessels have decided that their fishing rights take priority over the Russians military exercise.
It is for Russia to make sure the military exercises are “carried out in a way that safeguards Norwegian rights under the Law of the Sea and international law in general,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde told the Barents Observer as the Northern Fleet on Friday kicked off a large exercise, including within Norway’s Exclusive Economic Zone south of Svalbard.
Lunde said that also included the rights of the fishermen in the area.
“For now, we stay where we are,” boatowner Dag Jøsund to NRK. He owns “Nokasa”, a vessel currently fishing some 100 nautical miles south of Bear Island.
NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, can now tell that several of the fishing vessels that are within the warning zones have no plans to leave.
