That must be the effect of the adoption of the Baker-Shevardnadze
compromise in 1991...
See msg. 6900
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "John Seeliger" <jseelige@a...>
wrote:

>

http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/013103/ala_013103ala0010001.sh
tml

>
> Boundary line change may have affected crabbers detected in Russia
>
>
>
> KODIAK (AP) -- A change in the 1867 maritime boundary line between

the

> United States and Russia may be the reason six Bering Sea crabbers

were

> detected fishing in Russian waters last week, according to federal
> officials.
>
> The six vessels were ordered to port by the Coast Guard on behalf

of the

> National Marines Fisheries Service.
>
> The boundary line was moved as much as 14 miles east in 1991, one

federal

> officer estimated. Captains, using navigational programs linked to

the

> global positioning system, may have been plotting their positions

from the

> 1867 line rather than the 1991 line.
>
> ''One possibility -- the software provider may have been at

fault,'' Susan

> Auer told the Kodiak Mirror on Thursday. Auer is senior enforcement

attorney

> for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
>
> The six American vessels included the Alaskan Beauty of Kirkland,

Wash.,

> Fierce Allegiance of Edmonds, Wash., the Arctic Wind, Pacific Star,

and

> Ocean Olympic of Seattle and the Adventure of Petersburg.
>
> The boats were fishing in the Bering Sea during the opilio, or snow

crab,

> season that closed Saturday.
>
> The Adventure was ordered to St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands. Auer
> indicated that crab from that boat may not be seized.
>
> ''Little if any of the crab from the Adventure was taken from

Russian

> waters,'' Auer said.
>
> The portion of the catch seized will depend on how much crab federal
> officials believe came from Russian waters.
>
> NMFS hopes to finish investigations by the end of next week, an

officer

> said.
>
> The five other boats were being offloaded in Dutch Harbor in the

Aleutian

> Islands.
>
> A National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman said last week that

the crab

> would be sold and proceeds held until investigations of the possible
> violations are completed. According to NMFS, an administrative law

judge

> could impose forfeiture of the catch and the forfeiture could then

> contested in Federal District Court.
>
> The Coast Guard enforces the Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to

import or

> acquire fish taken in violation of a U.S. treaty or foreign law.