PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The Canadian government says it’s investigating a series of incidents in which U.S. border patrols have approached Canadian fishing vessels in a disputed island area off the East Coast.
The area in question’s around Machias Seal Island, a 20-acre rock island at Maine-New Brunswick border. U.S Customs and Border Protection says agents with a sector that covers the area have interviewed 21 Canadian vessels this fiscal year while conducting regular patrols to enforce immigration laws. A spokesman for the agency says it hasn’t made any arrests.
Some Canadian fishermen have described the interviews as harassment. A Global Affairs Canada spokesman says Thursday the country considers Canada’s sovereignty over the area to be “long standing.”
Machias Seal Island’s located off Cutler, Maine, about 200 miles northeast up the coast from Portland.
