SWINGEING FINES FOR COCKLE BUYERS In the first case, local cockle firm Penclawdd Shellfish Processors Ltd based on Crofty Industrial Estate, Swansea were found to have aided and abetted the removal of undersized cockles from the Gwendraeth estuary near Kidwelly. The Magistrates court in Carmarthen on 24 April heard how on 24 October 2005 Fishery Officers from the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee found a tractor registered to the firm parked at the northern end of Cefn Sidan. It was attached to a trailer onto which were being loaded cockles bought from gatherers. There were approximately 13 tonnes of cockle on the trailer thought to be worth in excess of £7000. An inspection of the cockles revealed that 87% were under the legal size. The company did not attend court to contest the charges. The court fined the firm £5000, the maximum penalty available to it. It also ordered the payment of £120 prosecution costs. In the second case, cockle buyer Mr Christopher Mossman, of 64 Borough Grove, Flint, CH6 5DR appeared to answer two charges of aiding and abetting the removal of undersized cockle when on the consecutive days of the 24th and 25th October 2005 Fishery Officers found large quantities of cockles being loaded onto his transporter vessel ‘Confiance’ which had been moored in the Gwendraeth estuary. On the first day they found 3 tonnes of cockle, thought to be worth £900, of which 83% was undersized whilst on the second day they found a further 2 tonnes containing 86% undersized. Mossman, who told Fishery Officers he was buying to supply another South Wales cockle firm did not attend to contest the matters; he was fined £5000 on each charge and ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs. In both cases the Magistrates said they had been surprised by the ‘flagrant abuse of the regulations which had jeopardised the conservation status of the estuary’ and they ‘hoped that the maximum penalties imposed would serve as a deterrent to others’. Speaking after the cases, a spokesman for the Committee commented that ‘the Three Rivers Cockle fishery saw a bumper harvest last year but during the fishery the beds came under unprecedented pressure from the cockle industry. Much of the gathering activity is facilitated by the buying concerns who process the catch and they are under a responsibility to ensure the cockles they buy are legal and have been taken legally. These cases demonstrate the resolve of the Committee, assisted by the Courts, to ensure those responsibilities are met’. |
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