Russian ship owner to appeal against Norwegian fines.

ARKHANGELSK, October 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The ship owner of a Russian
fishing vessel arrested by Norwegian coast guards and fined for a total of
450 thousand krones said he would pay the fine, but would later appeal
against the court judgment.
The Sapfir-2 trawler from Murmansk was arrested late in September in
the 200-mile zone around Spitsbergen and towed to the port of Tromse.
Ship owner representative Andrei Zaika said on Thursday the captain
and the company were fined for 50 and 100 thousand Norwegians krones
respectively and another fine of 300 thousand krones was imposed for the
damage.
"We disagree with the judgment and will appeal against it in a
Norwegian court," he told Tass. "Lawyers believe a fine of 300 thousand
for three tons of fish onboard is too much," Zaika said and added the ship
owner will nevertheless pay the fine immediately to have the trawler freed
on Friday.
The Russian foreign ministry protested to the Norwegian ambassador in
Moscow over the arrest of Sapfir-2 which was the sixth detention in the
past three months of a Russian fishing vessel by Norwegian authorities in
the 200-mile zone around Spitsbergen which Norway unilaterally declared
its sovereignty and enforced national fishing legislation in it.