05
Aug
Annan based trawlers guilty of ‘black fishing’
Extracted from the Sunday Mail of 05/08/07
TN Trawlers based in Annan fish the Solway Firth and the south of England were targeted as part of a crackdown on ‘black fishing’ between Jan 04 and July 05.
TN Trawlers, two fish merchants and six skippers admitted breaching the limits.
Chris Nicholson, of Annan, was fined £300 for faking catch reports; Raymond Strachan, of Sandhaven was fined £3200 plus £500 costs after eight charges relating to 43 fish landings; Edward Black, of Eaglesfield, was fined £2500 plus £500 costs after five charges relating to 10 landings; Steven Mundle, of Annan, was fined £1600 on four counts; David Patience, of Peterhead, was fined £400 for one offence and Gary Adams, of Castle Douglas £1000 on two counts.
TN Trawlers, Liverpool Bay Fishing Company and a fish merchant based in Brixham, south Devon, are to be sentenced in October. They all face having money seized. TN Trawlers have an annual turnover of £2.5 million.
Before new laws were introduced in 2005, up to a quarter of all fish landed in Scotland were illegal with the illicit cod market was valued at £20million.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), said: “If illegal catches are not controlled then there is an inducement for others to break the law.”
While the honest fishermen stick to the rules, their greedy colleagues are stealing their livliehoods, and making a mockery of the efforts they are making to maintain a sustainable fishery.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:27 pm<p>There’s still too many willing to circumvent all the rules; Mr Lochhead will have to really tighten things up if he expects anyone to believe the SNP and the commercial fishermen are really interested in sustainability.</p>
August 12th, 2007 at 4:41 pm