The vessel Green Austevoll, owned by the shipping company Green Reefers, delivered frozen fish to Kaliningrad in Russia last week. The fish were caught in Western Sahara waters by Russian fishing trawlers from the Murmansk Trawl Fleet, under an agreement that the Russians have with the occupying power Morocco. 

The Norwegian government advise against Norwegian business in the territory. But Green Reefers has for a number of years assisted the Russians in the unethical fisheries practices through transports of Saharawi fish. This is the first such transport since 2020. 

“We have to admit that it is difficult for us to imagine a more problematic business practice than that which your company engages in. Green Reefers assists the fleet of the occupying power Russia in transporting fish from the Western Sahara in collaboration with the occupying power Morocco. As the European Court of Justice pointed out on 4 October 2024 - in a judgment on European fishing - such fisheries are carried out in violation of international law if consent has not been obtained from the people of Western Sahara", wrote the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara in a letter to Green Reefers on 14 October.

"We ask you immediately to stop these transports", the organisation wrote.

The cargo comes from so-called "transshipments" from Russian trawlers in the shallow waters outside the city of Dakhla in the occupied territories, where the cargo is transferred from the trawlers to the transport ship at sea. Russia has a fisheries agreement with Morocco that is contrary to international law, which allows the Russians to fish in the occupied territories. 

The transshipments take place by the trawler and the transport ship anchoring right next to each other just outside the city of Dakhla, in calm waters. Green Austevoll arrived in these transshipment waters on 7 September. It took cargo on 14 September from the trawler Vasiliy Filippov and on 17 September from Kapitan Bogomolov. Both trawlers belong to the Murmansk Trawl Fleet.

The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara has repeatedly asked the shipping company to clarify that they will never repeat such transports, but they never received a reply to the letters. 

"It is the authorities who decide on the sanctions that will apply. We will deal with sanctions that come from the relevant authorities", stated Green Shipping's chairman Eivind Eidesvik told the Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet, 16 October.

On 20 September, Green Austevoll stopped in Las Palmas to bunker fuel and to dispose of waste. The images below of the incident can be used freely. The fuel delivery was made by the company Petrologis Canarias.

The European Court of Justice concluded on 4 October that the EU's previous fishing practices in the territory have been in breach of international law. Russia is thus Morocco's most important partner in fisheries that violate international law.

Green Reefers has had ships visit occupied Western Sahara for a number of years, from the early 2000s. It is now four years since the shipping company last ventured into the territory, with the same vessel, Green Austevoll. 

In 2019, Green Reefers came very close to having a vessel detained in South Africa after making a similar transport to South Africa.

Below you can see how Green Austevoll (in yellow) picked up the load from Vasiliy Filippov (yellow) and Kapitan Bogomolov (red) in September.

The video above can be downloaded here.  

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