A Scottish fishing skipper has been fined €17, 500 in relation to breaches of fisheries legislation in Irish waters.
Jonathan Bellany, with an address in Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom, was also ordered to forfeit €26,888.56 from the value of the catch and gear onboard when he appeared before Cork Circuit Criminal Court on May 30th, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) says.
Bellany confirmed guilty pleas to charges for offences of failing to retain onboard catches of sea-fish subject of catch limits, failure to record legal discards of catches and failure to have a completed stowage plan describing the location of catches stored onboard the British registered vessel, Andromeda, the SFPA says.
“The charges arose from an inspection by officers attached to the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) patrol vessel Ocean Guardia” in the waters of the Irish exclusive economic zone on May 20th, 2024, it says.
The detention was coordinated by officers onboard the Ocean Guardian, SFPA sea-fisheries protection officers and An Garda Síochána.
The SFPA says that the court heard evidence that during the course of an inspection onboard the vessel, officers observed crew members sorting catch of sea-fish on a conveyor belt and segregated certain catches by species and size which were discharged through a funnel device back into the sea.
“The court heard that over the course of 30 minutes, officers observed approximately 30-50kgs of catch, including hake, megrims, haddock, being discarded in this manner. The court also heard that all catches should have been recorded on a daily basis,”it says.
“Evidence was given that the recording requirements and quotas are specifically important regarding quota species in order to preserve the survivability of stocks and prevent the collapse of stocks in particular fishing areas, by ensuring accurate, scientific data is available for the purposes of setting quotas,”it says.
“A sea-fisheries protection officer’s view was that the crew had a lack of training and knowledge of the legal requirements. It was stated that the master is responsible for what occurs on the vessel,”it says.
“The court also heard how the master did not have a stowage plan onboard the vessel in relation to the catch onboard,”it says
An SFPA spokesperson said that “the SFPA notes the important decision of the court and the seriousness attached to the contraventions detected”.
“The landing obligation and recording requirements are key tools to ensuring the sustainability of species and future fishing activity by fishing communities. Failure to comply with the landing obligation, engaging in illegal discarding, failing to record catches and any legal discards undermines the sustainability of sea-fisheries having regard to adverse impact on the survivability and sustainability of fish stocks, including by the discarding of dead juvenile catches back to the sea,”the spokesperson said.
“The SFPA highly commends the officers involved in this investigation and the cooperation between the EFCA patrol officials, sea-fisheries protection officers and An Garda Síochána,”the spokesperson said.
