Somali pirates on Saturday released a South Korean fishing boat with 25 Asian crew, hijacked in April, after a ransom of hundreds of thousands of dollars was paid, elders and militiamen said.
"The illegal fishermen who unlawfully entered into the territorial waters of Somalia were released after they paid a fine of 800,000 dollars (about 627,000 euros)," elder Abdi Ilmi told AFP from Haradere port, about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Mogadishu.
The released crew of the 351-tonne Dongwon-ho No.628, owned by Dongwon Fisheries, were kidnapped in April while operating with two other South Korean tuna ships owned by Dongwon Fisheries in the Indian Ocean waters off the Somali cost.
"They have finally been released. They were arrested because they were taking advantage of the situation in Somalia and pillaging Somali territorial waters," Ilmi said.
"They could have been released early, but there was some dispute on the amount of ransom that was to be paid. The militiamen demanded a million dollars, but finally they agreed 800,000 dollars," Ilmi added.
The pirates, calling themselves the Defenders of Somali Territorial Waters and loyal to regional warlord Abdi Mohamed Afweyne, confirmed the release.
They said the crew -- nine Indonesians, eight South Koreans, five Vietnamese and three Chinese -- had run out of food and other essential items and were in very bad shape.
"They were in a very appalling situation," said one militiamen.
The gang vowed to continue "patrolling" the Somali portion of the vast Indian Ocean to curb illegal fishing as well as dumping of industrial waste.
"We shall continue to safeguard Somali territorial waters (against) illegal fishing and those who use Somalia as a dumping site," the militiaman said. "We have no government to protect our waters and we will continue to do our job."
During their nearly four months in captivity, captain Sung Sik Choi was taken from the ship and held in the township while the rest of the crew remained on board.
"There was nothing sinister about it. It was a tactical move to separate the captain from the rest of the crew because if the US Marines attacked in a rescue operation, we would still have a bargaining chip," said one pirate.
Officials said the largely powerless transitional goverment, based in the southcentral town of Baidoa, had licensed Dongwon-ho No.628 to fish for tuna.
The ship was seized by gunmen in the pirate-infested waters off northeast Somalia on April 4. Talks on their release involved pirate leaders, local elders and a "court" in the town of Hobyo near where the ship was seized.
The Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), which controls the capital and much of southern Somalia, sounded a warning to the pirates to stop their activities.
"Piracy is illegal," said hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, whose Islamic militia has started to restore law and order in areas they control.
The coastline of Somalia has joined those of Indonesia and Bangladesh as the world's most dangerous hotspots for high-seas ambushes.
Somalia has had no functioning central administration since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre.