local work
prosecutions Commercial fisher fined for using untagged pots In April, magistrates sentenced Mr Iean Clow of Amble for breaching key local fisheries legislation regulating the shellfish fishery along the Northumberland coast. In the previous year, NIFCA enforcement officers had undertaken routine inspections of a fleet of 25 fishing pots set off Boulmer, whose surface markers identified them as being set from the commercial fishing vessel Sterina BH47, owned and operated by Mr Clow. On inspection, 21 pots did not have current mandatory NIFCA pot tags attached. Representing NIFCA, Andrew Oliver of Andrew Jackson Solicitors, explained to the court the importance of fishing for shellfish to commercial fishermen and the conservation measures that dictate that every pot must be fitted with up-to-date tags to ensure that no fishing vessel may fish with more than 800 pots. Mr Clow, who represented himself in court pleaded guilty to the offence; the court decided that he had been deliberate in his actions and imposed financial penalties of a £933.00 fine, a victim surcharge of £373.00 and awarded costs of £1,870.00. In total £3,176.00 is to be paid by Mr Clow.
Commercial fisher fined for breaching fisheries legislation
A commercial fisherman from Holy Island, Mr Paul Douglas, was fined £2,690 by magistrates at the Quayside Law Courts in May. The fine comes as a consequence of breaching national fisheries legislation aimed at protecting key species along the Northumberland Coast. This related to incidents in November 2023 and January 2024, when Mr Douglas retained egg bearing Lobsters. Representing NIFCA, Andrew Oliver informed the court that on both the 16th November 2023 and 16th January 2024, enforcement officers from NIFCA had conducted inspections on Mr Douglas’s catch and vessel, Scarlet Cord R7 - on both occasions, prohibited egg bearing lobsters were found in his catch. Tests later performed on one of the lobsters showed that although there was only a limited number of eggs still present, the remainder that would have also been attached had not naturally hatched. Mr Douglas, represented in court by Richard Arnot of Ward-Hadaway solicitors pleaded guilty to both offences. The Bench issued Mr Douglas a Band D fine of £960 and ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £384 along with prosecution costs of £1,350.
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