Misreporting catches of saithe, which had been caught to get around quota rules, cost three fishing companies and five vessel masters dearly when they appeared in court for a prosecution brought by the Marine Management Organisation.
In total the businesses - Guiding Light Ltd, Livingstone LLP and Falcon Fishing Ltd - were fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay more than £49,700 in additional fines equivalent to a proportion of the illegally caught hauls when they appeared at Newcastle magistrates court.
Five masters who skippered the vessels - Guiding Light H90, Guiding Star H360 and Falcon H119 - at the time of the offences were fined a total £3,169 for making false entries for the saithe catches in their electronic logbooks.
Each business and master admitted misreporting in their logbooks where they had caught quantities of saithe, claiming the fish in question had been hauled in ICES area 6a when it had in fact been caught in ICES area 4a.
The court was told each accused had already reached their quota limit for saithe in ICES area 4a, which was rich in saithe stocks, and were not allowed to fish for more during the trips in September and October 2019.
However, they all had quota left for 6a where saithe stocks were lower and catches were reportedly smaller.
Magistrates were told the defendants deliberately caught the fish in the area where stocks and catches were good. But they attributed the hauls to the sea zone where quota remained available but hauls were likely to be smaller and so worth considerably less at market.
The accused were found out when MMO officers checked camera footage from the vessels, which were all taking part in the Government's Fully Documented Fisheries scheme. The video proved the vessels were not fishing at the times stated in the electronic logbook entries.
Magistrates gave all the defendants credit for making early admissions of their offending.
In mitigation, the court heard that the separation of quota between the two sea areas was regarded as artificial by many in the fishing industry and the fishing allowances for each area had been merged in 2021 to enable fishermen to fish their quota in either or both areas legally.
Guiding Light Ltd, owner of Guiding Light H90, admitted two charges of misreporting the location of part of their saithe catch during two trips in September and October 2019 in breach of the Fisheries Act 1981. The business was fined £20,000, had to repay the value of catch £31,707 and picked up costs of £4396.
Gavin Thain, master of the vessel for one of the trips, was fined £888 with an £89 victim surcharge. Richard Watson, master of Guiding Light H90 for the October trip, was fined £300 with a victim surcharge of £32.
Livingstone Fishing LLP, owner of Guiding Star H360, admitted two counts of misreporting the location of part of their saithe catch during two trips in September and October 2019 in breach of the Fisheries Act 1981. They were fined £20,000, faced costs of £3853 and must repay the £6470 value of the catch.
Barry Fenty, Master of Guiding Star H360, was fined £1057 and must pay a victim surcharge of £106 for one of the trips while Robert Smith, Master of the vessel for the second trip in October 2019, was fined £307 and faces a £32 victim surcharge.
Falcon Fishing Ltd, owner of Flacon H119, was fined £10,000 after admitting one charge of misreporting the location of its saithe catch on a single trip between 19 and 27 September 2019. The company also faces costs of £2396 and must repay the catch's value, £11,577.
The vessel's master for the trip, Rayner Sim, was fined £411 and faces a £41 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to an identical charge in breach of the Fisheries Act 1981.
After the hearing, Peter Clark, MMO's Director of Operations, said:
We assure the quota system in English waters, alongside other fisheries regulations, to support a thriving and fair fishing industry while balancing protection for fish stocks and our marine environment.
Misreporting the location of catches to gain an advantage and generate income unlawfully undermines the whole regulatory framework and, equally importantly, disadvantages the fishers who operate within the law.
While our approach is to work with fishers to achieve compliance with regulations, this prosecution shows that we will take the appropriate action for clear and serious breaches of regulations.
