Fishing for Intelligence: The Hidden Role of Russian Fleets

In early July, Norway sanctioned two of Russia’s largest fishing companies over mounting concerns that their vessels are being used as platforms for intelligence gathering, not just for catching fish. The move against Norebo JSC and Murman Seafood highlights a growing challenge for maritime security: the line between commercial and state-backed activity at sea is increasingly blurred, with consequences for both national security and global trade.

According to Norwegian intelligence assessments, several vessels tied to these companies were allegedly involved in surveillance operations targeting critical subsea infrastructure in Norwegian and allied waters. Against the backdrop of recent sabotage fears across Europe and heightened tensions in the North Atlantic, these allegations underscore how fishing fleets may serve dual purposes beyond their stated missions. 

In this blog, we’ll unpack how Russian fishing fleets operate at the intersection of commerce and intelligence, explore the ownership links between Murman Seafood and Norebo, and show how Maritime AI™ can help security stakeholders detect and respond to these emerging risks. 

Patterns of Suspicion: Murman Seafood’s Fleet

Using Windward’s Maritime AI™ platform, we analyzed the operational patterns of Murman Seafood’s active fleet. Out of four vessels, three exhibited unusual loitering patterns near subsea cables. While each case might appear isolated, together they reveal a connected pattern of risk. 

Vessel 1: A Standard Profile, With a Catch

This decades-old Russian-flagged fishing vessel regularly operates between Murmansk and northern Norway. At first glance, it shows a low risk profile with no dark activity detected and little indication of smuggling. However, analysis of its last 180 days revealed prolonged slow-speed activity directly above key communication cables in March, April, and May 2025. The vessel’s otherwise routine movements take on new meaning when viewed against this backdrop.

The vessel’s slow-speed activities above cables. Source: Windward Maritime AI™ Platform

Vessel 2: Clear Signs of Dual-Use Behavior

This mid-sized trawler, re-flagged and renamed several times, is now owned by Murman Seafood but has a beneficial ownership that is a company within the Norebo Group. It carries a record of unauthorized harbor activity, sanctions tied to atypical behavior, and reports of suspicious operations near subsea infrastructure. In June 2025, behavioral analysis shows the vessel sailing at normal speed before deliberately slowing down directly above a Scandinavian subsea cable – a strong indicator of potential surveillance activity.

The vessel is slowing down its speed as it passes over a cable. Source: Windward Maritime AI™ Platform

Vessel 3: Atypical Behavior in the North Atlantic

This 56-meter vessel has a long history of activity in Norway and the Faroe Islands. It has been linked in adverse media to espionage allegations and was once shadowed by the Danish navy before docking. Both Norway and the EU have sanctioned it for its conduct. Throughout 2025, the vessel repeatedly loitered near subsea cables in the North Atlantic, reinforcing its profile as high risk and atypical. 

The vessel’s repeated loitering above cables in the North Atlantic. Source: Windward Maritime AI™ Platform

Together, these cases suggest that Murman’s fleet is not acting in isolation, but may be part of a wider, coordinated network.

The Murman-Norebo Connection

The ownership structures tell an even deeper story. One of Murman Seafood’s vessels is beneficially owned by a company that sits inside the Norebo Group, one of Russia’s largest fishing conglomerates. This link connects Murman’s four vessels to a fleet of over twenty ships, extending the risk far beyond a single company.

This overlap underscores a critical point: the blurred line between fishing operations and state-linked activity is not confined to one fleet but may be embedded across an industry.

Norebo Group: A Broader Pattern of Risk

Murman Seafood’s overlap with the Norebo Group reveals how ownership ties can extend risk far beyond a single fleet. As one of Russia’s largest fishing conglomerates, Norebo controls a wide network of vessels that operate across multiple regions and jurisdictions. When we look at its fleet, the concerns raised by Murman Seafood are no longer isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of questionable conduct. 

Our analysis of Norebo’s fleet surfaced multiple vessels with troubling histories and behaviors:

• A surveillance ship caught fire while operating near Syria, raising concerns because of its specialized intelligence equipment.
• A large factory trawler flagged by Greenpeace Africa for suspected illegal fishing inside West African exclusive economic zones.
• Another vessel documented operating in the disputed waters of Western Sahara, in violation of international norms.
• A ship docked in Kaliningrad that experienced an onboard explosion in one of Russia’s most militarized ports.
• A trawler active off Western Sahara and the Canary Islands, sparking sovereignty disputes and regulatory challenges.

Individually, these cases highlight questionable practices. Collectively, they reinforce the pattern of dual-use behavior, poor compliance, and operations in geopolitically sensitive waters, signaling risk well beyond commercial fishing.

When Fishing Fleets Become Security Threats

The number of vessels across these fleets with questionable or suspicious activity is too significant to dismiss. Their behavior highlights how seemingly commercial operations can intersect with state objectives, creating risks that extend well beyond fishing grounds. Subsea cables carry the lifeblood of the global internet, and pipelines remain critical to global energy security. Suspicious loitering above this infrastructure, combined with opaque ownership links, underscores how fishing fleets can be leveraged for surveillance or disruption. 

This convergence of commercial and strategic activity illustrates a broader truth: maritime infrastructure is now a frontline in global security. If fishing fleets can be repurposed for intelligence operations, then governments and industry alike face new vulnerabilities that demand proactive monitoring. This is where AI-driven intelligence becomes indispensable. 

Uncovering Hidden Risks with Maritime AI™

The complexity of these cases underscores why traditional monitoring alone isn’t enough. Suspicious loitering, opaque ownership, and fragmented reporting can appear disconnected until they are seen through a single, integrated lens. Windward’s Maritime AI™ platform enables governments and security stakeholders to bring these pieces together, revealing patterns and connections that would otherwise remain hidden. 

With Maritime AI™, agencies can:

• Detect anomalies in real time, from unusual loitering to dark activity, before they escalate.
• Trace multi-layered ownership structures with Visual Link Analysis to uncover hidden ties between vessels and companies.
• Correlate operational behavior, satellite imagery, and open-source reporting into a one actionable picture, giving decision-makers clarity when it matters most.

By consolidating behavioral, ownership, and risk intelligence into a single view, Windward equips stakeholders to move from fragmented monitoring to proactive, intelligence-driven action.

Clarity in an Age of Maritime Deception 

Fishing fleets may look civilian on the surface, but their behavior tells a different story. The Norwegian sanctions reveal more than just regulatory action – they expose the evolving nature of maritime competition, where trawlers can serve as surveillance platforms and “ordinary” voyages may mask extraordinary risks.

Windward’s Maritime AI™ empowers agencies to cut through this uncertainty, surfacing anomalies, ownership ties, and behavioral red flags before they escalate into security threats. In a world where critical subsea cables, pipelines, and national waters are increasingly contested, the ability to separate routine fishing from covert intelligence activity is a strategic necessity.

Disruption at sea is inevitable. Clarity is optional. With Maritime AI™, governments and security stakeholders gain the visibility needed to protect critical assets and maintain strategic advantage.