A Marine Management Organisation investigation using aerial surveillance, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) records and analysis of e-log and sales note information resulted in the owner of
Le Men Du FY408, Vistgate Ltd, and master Mark Bull admitting a total of seven charges at Plymouth magistrates this week.
The court was told the vessel was spotted and photographed fishing for scallops in the closed area by a routine surveillance flight conducted by MMO.
VMS monitoring confirmed Le Men Du had been in parts of the Dogger Bank on two occasions in July 2020 when a temporary suspension of scallop fishing was in place. The vessel’s master Mark Bull, of North Yorkshire, admitted to dredging for king scallops when interviewed under caution.
Subsequent analysis of electronic logbook information highlighted that inaccurate data had been submitted outside the legal time limits. These offences were breaches of the Fisheries Act 1981.
Vistgate Ltd also pleaded guilty to supplying sales note information in breach of Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction sites regulations.
The company was fined £3,000, with a surcharge of £190, costs of £1,861 and a further fine of £1,591 for the value of the offending catch, totalling £6,452 to be paid within 28 days.
Bull, who was Master of Le Me Du at the time of the offences, was fined £5,000 with a surcharge of £190, costs of £1,861 and a further fine of £1,591 for the value of the offending catch, totalling £8,452.00 to be paid by 11 December 2023.
Magistrates said the penalties were based on what they viewed as the most serious offences – the breach of the fishing licence condition that banned scallop dredging in the relevant area of Dogger Bank.
In mitigation, the court was told the temporary closure of scallop dredging had been published 36 hours before the first instance of illegal fishing.
The court also heard that Bull had no previous experience of electronic logbooks and the associated regulations having only used paper submissions previously and that he had received no training.
Vistgate Ltd told the court Bull was not an employee but took a share of the vessel’s profits and so the company had concluded he should have known about e-logs and complied with the regulations.
The court gave Vistgate Ltd and Bull credit for their early admissions of the offences.
Vistgate admitted breaching the fishing licence condition, one breach of the Fisheries Act 1981 by supplying inaccurate logbook data and one breach of sales regulations by failing to submit to the Marine Management Organisation an accurate sales note within 24 hours after the first sale.
Bull admitted breaching the fishing licence condition and three counts of failing to supply accurate logbook data in the required timeframes. Photo by photographer: user:Ralf Lotys, Wikimedia commons.