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.”
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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