The owner of a Honolulu-based fishing vessel was fined May 29 for falsely activating a distress signal approximately 150 nautical miles northeast of O'ahu, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The fishing vessel Princess K, owned by the Princess K Fishing Corporation, was fined $8,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for "falsely activating an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, thereby engaging in superfluous communications resulting in the transmission of false distress communications."

The Coast Guard spent more than three aircraft hours and six personnel hours at a cost of more than $35,000 after it received a distress signal on Feb. 26 and the Princess K failed to respond to radio transmissions, Coast Guard officials said. Officials also said the beacon was thrown overboard and was not retrieved and continued transmitting until March 1, potentially masking an actual search and rescue alert.