Icelandic Coast Guard Investigates Russian Ships on its Maritime Border

The Icelandic Coast Guard highlights that it regularly monitors vessels inside and outside its economic zone, and yesterday, December 8, five vessels sitting just off the country’s maritime border attracted the monitoring station’s attention. As the day began, a total of 295 ships were on the control station’s system, but the five, which turned out to be Russian, attracted special attention.

The five boats were just outside Iceland’s jurisdiction. On closer inspection, the Coast Guard says it does not believe the boats were there for anything other than fishing. However, they told the local media outlet MBL, “We want to know who is in our backyard.”

The Coast Guard observes that Russian fishermen on the legal boundaries east of the country are not common. From time to time, however, they have observed Russian boats fishing offshore bass outside the Icelandic zone.

The boats were determined to be at “some distance” from the submarine cable that connects Iceland to the outside world. The Coast Guard also consulted with neighboring countries and concluded that the indication was that the Russian boats were on trawling trips.

 

Monitoring station - Icelandic Coast Guard

 

The Coast Guard, however, also said that its ships “have been monitoring the eastern part of the country lately and have, among other things, been boarding foreign ships that fish herring within the jurisdiction.” It warns that the journeys of these ships will continue to be closely monitored.

Surveillance and law enforcement within the Icelandic jurisdiction is carried out, the Coast Guard reports, with remote surveillance and satellites alongside real surveillance. It operates two large patrol boats as well as aircraft and helicopters.