The Icelandic Coast Guard is expanding the close monitoring of its waters in the eastern part of the country after detecting Russian boats on its border.
According to the Coast Guard, they “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.”
The Coast Guard reports that, in addition to actual surveillance, remote surveillance and satellites are used for law enforcement and surveillance within Icelandic jurisdiction.
It also operates helicopters, aeroplanes and two big patrol boats.
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Russian boats detected
It was on Monday when five vessels attracted the attention of the monitoring station of the Coast Guard, out of the 295 ships that were detected on that day.
The boats, which were just outside the country’s jurisdiction, turned out to be Russian and were said to be just fishing, according to the Coast Guard, as they made closer inspection.
“We want to know who is in our backyard,” the Coast Guard said according to local media outlet MBL by The Maritime Executive.
They have also noticed that there aren’t many Russian fishermen on the country’s legal borders to the east.
However, they have occasionally seen Russian vessels fishing for offshore bass outside the Icelandic zone.
Subsequently, the underwater cable that links Iceland to the outside world was found to be “some distance” away from the boats.
After consulting with nearby nations, the Coast Guard came to the conclusion that the Russian boats were likely on trawling expeditions.
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