MURMANSK, January 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s trawler, the Oleg Naidenov, seized in Senegalese waters in early January sustained losses of around 20 million roubles while staying idle in the port of Dakar, executive director of Fenix, a company owning the trawler, Yuri Parshev, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“We plan to start talks with the Senegalese authorities on the trawler’s detention and losses caused. We also have claims to the fact of the arrest and rude seizure,” Parshev said, adding that this would be business talks, focusing not on the direct recovery of losses by Senegal, but on an opportunity to fish in Senegalese waters and other variants of cooperation.
The talks also plan to discuss the return of bail money paid by the Russian Association of Companies Fishing off West Africa, of which Fenix is a member, he said, adding that the Senegalese authorities had not brought any official charges against the trawler and explained no reasons of the seizure so far.
On January 21, the Oleg Naidenov was released on bail and on the next day it received the official permission to leave the port of Dakar.
The trawler suspected of illegal fishing within Senegalese waters was seized by the Senegalese military 46 miles of Guinea-Bissau on January 4 and convoyed to the port of Dakar on January 5. There are 82 crew onboard, including 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea-Bissau.
The Oleg Naidenov is owned by private company Fenix, registered in Murmansk, the extreme northwest part of Russia. It is a big fishing boat of Moonzund type, 120 meters long, built in Germany in 1989.