The court heard how during a routine market inspection by MMO officers on 19 December 2017, 39 boxes of bass weighing 1118.70 kg were identified and labelled as being landed by Top Dog.
Top Dog is a 4 metre fishing vessel owned and operated by Dean Rollason since 2008. The vessel is licensed to fish for bass using gill nets, trawls and seinnes but did not have an authorisation to fish for bass using hooks and lines.
When MMO systems were checked it was found that Top Dog had landed a total of 3,645.60kg bass between 1 November 2017 and 31 January 2018.
When interviewed by MMO officers Mr Rollason admitted that the full 3,645.60kg of bass was caught using hooks and lines. He stated he mistakenly believed his fishing authorisation included the use of hooks and lines.
Five charges were brought before the court for breaching fishing licence conditions by catching bass using hooks and lines. A number of similar offences were taken into consideration by the Court.
Mr Rollason pleaded guilty to all charges and was fined £2,500 (£500 for each offence), ordered to pay £4,050 in costs and a victim surcharge of £50.
