Fishing/ over fishing?

As a very sad individual, I sometimes like to track (AIS) the vessels that inhabit our shores and beyond. Now I'm sure one of you good people will explain this to me.

For the past couple of weeks there have been upwards of eighteen Russian "factory" type ships sailing together North West of us (by quite a long way). I Have noticed that The Fishery Protection vessels have been only "skirting" around them.

I have no idea about the EU fishing laws etc. But "factory ships" do not hang around without fish to produce.

The whole thing looks very alarming to me, especially with Russia not being an EU member state, but more so when you hear about the state of The UK fishing industry.

Someone please explain it to me.

For anyone that's interested please find the "link" below.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/