TRAWLER TOO BIG FOR FISHERY LIMITS At a court hearing on 15 January, Paul Wharton of 10 Pine Close, Ilfracombe, Devon pleaded guilty to operating his trawler ‘Our Olivia Belle’ inside the six-mile fishery limits which exceeded the fishing capacity of boats limited by Byelaw. The court heard that the Fishery Patrol Vessel ‘Cranogwen’ was patrolling the outer reaches of Carmarthen Bay on 26 September last year when the trawler was detected by radar. A subsequent track plot of the trawler’s movements indicated it went 1.25 miles inside the limit. When boarded by Fishery Officers, Wharton the vessel’s skipper contended he was more that six miles from the nearest land but conceded he was inside the fishery limit on account that it is measured from a baseline drawn between Caldey and Worm’s head. Prosecution for the Committee told the Court that inshore waters contained fragile environments, and whilst often holding good stocks of fish, these were often seasonal in nature. Small, local fishing boats were unable to roam the seas in search of alternative stocks. In this way it was appropriate to limit the size of vessels fishing there and imperative that the Committee’s byelaws in this regard were upheld. Wharton was fined £300 and ordered to pay £200 prosecution costs. |
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