Politics

20:38, 17.08.2007 | APR

A Japanese fishing boat seized by Russia and its 17 crew members have been released and are now heading for Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japanese authorities said Thursday.

The Hoshin Maru No. 88 with the crew aboard departed from a port in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy in Russia's Far East region at 3 p.m. Thursday and is expected to arrive at Hanasaki port in Nemuro on Sunday afternoon, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry. The Japanese from Toyama Prefecture was seized June 1 in waters east of the Kamchatka Peninsula on allegations it had caught more fish than the declared catch and hunted for expensive blueback salmon without a Russian permit to fish for them.

- Japan Today