The trawler was boarded 40 miles off Great Yarmouth on December 1 as part of the ongoing Joint Deployment Plan with Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Inspection of the fishing vessel revealed a concealed fish room with its own refrigeration unit and empty boxes behind a panel in the main fish room. Two boxes of Sole were discovered in this fish room, of which approximately 67 per cent were below the minimum permitted size.
Further investigation revealed that the quantity of sole retained on board had also been under-recorded in the logbook and exceeded the permitted eight per cent logbook tolerance.
In the case brought by the Marine and Fisheries Agency, the master and the owner subsequently pleaded guilty to the three fishery offences and were ordered to pay £6,740 each in fines and costs by Great Yarmouth Magistrates on December 3.
For the offence of exceeding the permitted eight per cent logbook tolerance for sole in the North sea they were each fined £1,640; for retaining under-sized sole, £180 each; having an inaccurate fish room plan – the hidden fish room – also £180 each.
They were each additionally fined £2,225 to the value of the catch and ordered to pay costs of £2,500 each.
