French stern trawler Maranello fished for six hours inside an area off Trevose Head, Cornwall, which is closed annually to demersal trawling to protect spawning cod, magistrates heard.
The vessel was detained to Milford Haven after being boarded outside the closed area on March 16 by fisheries officers from the fishery protection vessel HMS Mersey which had been sent to investigate.
At Milford Haven fishery officers from the Welsh Assembly Government Fisheries Office presented the master with satellite tracking data from the Marine and Fisheries Agency which showed the position of his vessel. He admitted hauling twice in the closed box.
Master of the Maranello, Emmanuel Mauger, 37 of Chernex, France, and owner Emile Eouzam, of Plerin were ordered to pay a total of £6,000 in fines costs and the value of the fish, after pleading guilty to the offence at Haverford West Magistrates’ Court on 18 March.
