The Atlantic Ocean seen from the coast of Ireland (Simon Roughneen)
DUBLIN — A German-registered boat was detained overnight by Ireland’s navy for “alleged breaches of fishing regulations,” the Irish Naval Service and Irish Defence Forces said in a statement on Friday.
The intercepted vessel is being escorted to port by an Irish navy ship named after poet William Butler Yeats, where it will be handed over to police, the navy said.
The vessel was stopped in the Atlantic Ocean around 250 nautical miles (463 kilometres) north-west of Malin Head, the island of Ireland’s northernmost point.
The waters where the vessel was detained are rich in cod, haddock, whiting and plaice, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a United Nations body.
Germany and Ireland are subject to the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy, which “gives all European fishing fleets equal access to EU waters and fishing grounds,” but includes rules such as quotas on catches.
The European Commission warns separately that “EU operators who fish illegally anywhere in the world, under any flag, face substantial penalties.”
Ireland’s navy did not name or give any more information about the German-registered vessel – the seventh it has detained this year.
Illegal fishing is often carried out by boats flying so-called flags of convenience, after they register in a country “with no genuine link to its owners or operators,” according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.
