We have no data that the Bulgarian fishermen have committed any violation. This is what the Acting Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev told bTV. He commented on the case of three Bulgarian ships detained a few days ago at the military port in Constanta, Romania, and their sailors.
The Bulgarian fishermen are detained not in the territorial waters of Romania, but in international ones, pointed out Minister Gechev.
According to him, shark catching is allowed in Bulgaria. There are no bans regarding the European Union, there is a partial ban imposed by the Romanians themselves regarding Romanian fishermen and territories, he added.
What we are finding at the moment is that the Bulgarian fishermen have not broken the law, pointed out Minister Gechev. Bulgaria will protect its economic interests and the interests of its own citizens, Minister Gechev was categorical.
He announced that tomorrow there will be a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture with the fishermen’s association. According to him, the fishermen will also receive legal assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture from a lawyer specializing in maritime law.
In our opinion, there was no reason for them to be escorted to Constanta. A protocol was signed in Romanian, which they have refused to provide to our country yet. We are waiting for the protocol to arrive, commented Minister Gechev. We are waiting for the legal basis for detaining the ships, he added.
The captains of the detained ships demanded the resignation of the head of the IARA
The captains of the fishing vessels detained in Romania have returned to Bulgaria. They demanded the resignation of the Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Prof. Vanya Stamatova. They accused her of incompetence and damaging their prestige, after calling Bulgarian fishermen poachers on national air, BNT reported.
The returning captains are extremely disappointed with the actions of the line agency. According to them, she should protect them in this situation. They accused the director of IARA, Prof. Vanya Stamatova, of incompetence and ignorance of European legislation, and therefore demanded her resignation. Stamatova will make an official statement to the media later today.
The Bulgarian fishermen recalled that they fully comply with the EC fishing regulations and that they have the right to fish in the common European sea areas, as well as that there is no ban on catching Black Sea shark. According to them, if there is such an order issued by the Romanian authorities, it would follow that this order applies only to Romanian fishing vessels.
“We want the resignation of the director of IARA, who speaks incompetently in the media, and if she is so incompetent, she has no job there. It is incompetent to say that we are poachers and we fished in Romanian waters. We have an opinion and they have an opinion from the EC that these are pan-European waters,” said Capt. Krasimir Petrov.
According to information from the Bulgarian embassy in Romania, all 10 Bulgarian sailors from the three fishing vessels that were detained by the Romanian authorities have been released. Six of the crew members returned to Bulgaria on March 25 around midnight. This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The remaining four, including the three captains and one sailor, attended the sealing of the three sea vessels this morning and then also left for Bulgaria.
With a prosecutor’s decree, the three vessels remain detained in Port 1 – the military port of Constanta.
The three vessels were inspected on March 23 at 11:30 p.m. 50 miles east of Constanta in a joint operation by the fisheries and aquaculture enforcement agencies of Bulgaria and Romania. The three vessels were escorted to Constanta and from about 5:00 a.m. on 24 March the vessels, with a total of 10 crew, were detained.
“The big struggle now will be to free the ships. It is clear to everyone that the livelihood of 10 families depends on these ships and right now they are left on the streets and without food. The struggle from here on will be to free the ships. We expect cooperation from our authorities. This is the time for them to show us where the European values are, as they have been convincing us for 17 years – to show them now. As long as we follow European rules and principles, let them show us where the European laws are,” said Emil Milev – chairman of the fishermen’s association “Black Sea Sunrise”.
The fishermen also said that a few months ago there were conflict situations between Bulgarian fishing vessels and the cutters of the “Border Police” in Romania, which aggressively pushed our vessels to return to the Bulgarian zone. The questioning of the fishermen continued throughout the night, and there was a thorough search of the ships. The only support that the Bulgarian fishermen received was only from our diplomatic mission in Romania.
Bulgaria has not received official documents from the Romanian authorities about our fishermen detained in the Black Sea for alleged illegal shark fishing. This was announced by the director of IARA, Prof. Dr. Vanya Stamatova in front of BGNES.
“Apparently some of my words have been misinterpreted. I have never called the fishermen who were caught poachers. Whether they are poachers can only be said by the court. So far we have refrained from more specific statements, since nothing official has been done by the Romanian side to what exactly happened. I have information that the Bulgarian inspectors who participated in this joint inspection assisted our fishermen and asked the Romanian authorities not to escort the vessels to Constanta. This is the information I have at the moment. We will help as much as we can within our powers,” Stamatova said.
She did not confirm that the Bulgarian fishermen were detained in European territorial waters and not in Romanian ones. The reason – the Romanian authorities have not yet provided an official report on the case.
“We have officially requested the ban in question from the Romanian authorities, on the basis of which the arrest was made. So far we have not received one. This ban applies to Romanian waters, but I say again that I cannot say exactly where our fishermen were caught – whether in Romanian or European. During the inspection, they were detained on the grounds that they carried out illegal fishing. The inspection was joint, together with the border police of Romania,” explained the IARA director.
Regarding her requested resignation, she added: “At the moment, I don’t think there is a need to resign. If I have been misunderstood, I again apologize to the fishermen and I say again – IARA will provide them with full assistance, according to the powers it has.” She explained that each EU member state determines the fishing bans it introduces in its territorial waters.
