The State Border Security Committee of Ukraine claims poaching has reached an enormous level. 44 Turkish schooners that fished in the Ukrainian waters were detected over the first two months of this year alone. On March 22, four Ukrainian patrol ships took a decisive action after finding the Turkish poachers fishing for turbot, now in the International Red Book, 35-40 miles off Zmiyiny. At first, the border guards stopped the schooner Cemal Rais. However, the three others did not obey the order to stop, continuing their dangerous maneuvering and ignoring the warning shots from the Ukrainian patrol boats. The Ukrainian border guards had nothing left to do but use their weapons, as a result of which the schooner Yavrum Ahmet was sunk. The whole crew of 18 poachers was taken on board the Kuropiatnykov patrol ship. The border guards managed to detain one more schooner, the Serif Cinar, on which one crew member was killed and another one wounded. The fourth poaching vessel was able to escape. The detained vessels have already been escorted to Odesa and Sevastopol. A large quantity of fishing gear and caught turbot was found onboard the vessels.
The Turkish press immediately reacted to the fishing conflict. That country’s leading newspapers made the event front page news. Television gives out hourly reports. It will be recalled that Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasiuk visited Ankara early last week. At that time, the Turkish Foreign Ministry called the visit of the Ukrainian foreign minister “a step toward strengthening Turkish- Ukrainian relations.” This latest incident will test how strong is the wish of both sides to deepen cooperation. Fortunately, it has not yet come to the exchange of protest notes. The Embassy of Turkey in Ukraine and the information department of the Turkish Foreign Ministry told The Day that Ankara would not make a formal statement about the incident, confining itself to comments.
