Scott Trawlers of Peterhead, Scotland – operators of some of the UK’s biggest scallop dredgers – had been fined last July after pleading guilty to 17 offences in a prosecution brought by the Marine and Fisheries Agency.
Scott Trawlers, which has a turnover of £33m a year, had three times denied MFA fishery officers the opportunity to inspect the scallop dredger Vertrouwen in port at Shoreham raising concerns about by-catch and undersize scallops, David Buck for the MFA told the court.
They had also admitted 14 charges of failing to submit landing declarations within 48 hours of arriving in port.
Mr. Buck said the company had shown an “indifference” to the MFA and the legislation. Despite repeated requests by phone, e-mail, and fax Scott Trawlers had failed to supply landing declarations on time.
And even when the data appeared months later it was simply on estimated weight, which was not acceptable.
For the company, Ian Lawrie said Scott Trawlers were not “indifferent” to the matter, wanted to comply, and had created a manual for their skippers. He said the matters were at the lowest end of the offending scale and all the offences were “simple mistakes”.
But at Lewes Crown Court Judge Richard Brown dismissed their appeal that the fines were unfair and said magistrates had approached the sentencing quite properly.
