17 on trial in Sweden for illegal fishing of threatened cod

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Seventeen people went on trial in Sweden Wednesday for illegally fishing more than 100 tonnes of cod, increasing pressure on threatened fish stocks, in the Scandinavian country's largest ever poaching case.

Sixteen fishermen stand charged in the Varberg district court in southwestern Sweden of illegally pulling in 109 tonnes of cod in 2005 and passing it off as pollack in order to circumvent strict EU quotas limiting cod fishing.

A purchaser of the fish also stands accused of facilitating the scam, which allowed the fishermen to make an additional 1.83 million kronor (195,000 euros, 286,950 dollars) in total, according to court documents obtained by AFP.

The case is serious, according to the Swedish Board of Fisheries, since the illegal...