The owners and skippers of two under-10 metre fishing vessels have been fined in two prosecutions for exceeding monthly pollack quota.
Cases brought to court by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) following routine checks of sales note and catch data revealed that Kerry Marie NN-795 and Annie May PZ-71 had overfished their quota by a total 182 and 192kg respectively in Area VII.
Bodmin Magistrates heard that Berlewen Fishing and Leisure Limited, owner of Kerry Marie, and its then skipper William Paul Chapman, admitted one charge of breaching their licence by overfishing for pollack in February 2024. At the same court, Bomaris Ltd, owner of Annie May, and its then skipper James Mitchell pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching their licence by overfishing for pollack in March 2024.
The court heard MMO launched investigations after their routine checks raised suspicions that the owners and skippers of the two vessels had failed to either stop fishing or lease more quota when they knew both had already reached their monthly limits for pollack.
The data showed that Kerry Marie had exceeded its quota by over 200% on 7th February 2024. Despite this, the vessel then continued to fish, going out again on 19th February, knowing it was going to exceed its quota. They returned from that trip with an amount of pollack that was a further 79% over quota.
MMO officers issued a Financial Administrative Penalty but the owner and skipper refused to pay it, leading to the hearing in Bodmin.
Catch records and sales data showed that in total, the Annie May exceeded its quota by 189%, catching almost triple the amount that was permitted, over the course of five trips. The MMO submitted that this was deliberate offending where the owner and skipper flagrantly disregarded the law. No attempts were made to lease more quota to prevent overfishing after the first trip, or any subsequent trips during that month.
‘We want to make sure that fishermen who play by the rules are not disadvantaged by the small minority who flout them,’ commented MMO’s head of Investigations & Intelligence Libby Naylor following the hearings.
‘There were steps the defendants could have taken to have avoided overfishing their quota and they failed to do so. That is why they ended up in court. We will support fishermen to comply with their licence conditions and regulations but we will not hesitate to take action where we find flagrant or repeated breaches of the rules.’
Berlewen Fishing and Leisure Limited were fined £3000 and must also pay a surcharge of £1200 and £2038.05 in costs. The business was also fined £1516.60 to the value of the fish. Skipper William Chapman was fined £1204 and has to pay a £410 surcharge plus £500 costs.
Bodmin magistrates fined Bomaris Ltd £3000 with a £1200 surcharge and costs of £4856.05, with an additional fine of £881.69 to the value of the fish. Skipper James Mitchell was fined £2954 and must also pay a surcharge of £1182.20 and costs of £500.
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