Carmarthen Magistrates Fine Three Local Cockle Gatherers Carmarthen Magistrates fined three local cockle gatherers on Tues 13 June for illegal picking in the Three Rivers Cockle fishery last year. In a case brought by South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee, the court heard that Craig Moore, of 6 Heol Y Pentre, Pont Henri; Paul Underwood, of 26 Nightingale Court, Llanelli; and Jennifer Cruickshank, of 3 Lower Tostre Road, Llanelli had been stopped by Fishery Officers as they left the Gwendraeth fishery at 2230 hours on 29 September 2005 thereby contravening the byelaw prohibiting the removal of cockle at night. A trailer towed by the defendants’ truck held almost a tonne of cockle, further examination of which revealed it all to be below the minimum landing size thereby creating a further offence. Whilst admitting the cockle offences, it was disputed at trial on behalf of the defendants that the Fishery Officers had acted beyond their powers in collecting the evidence because they had stopped the defendants’ vehicle near the entrance to Pembrey Country Park more than 6 miles from the Gwendraeth fishery and some several hundred metres from the nearest high water mark. The Magistrates disagreed, finding the Officers had acted properly within the Fishery District. Each defendant was fined £100 per cockle offence and each ordered to pay £120 costs to the Prosecution. Last week, on the 8th June, the same court dealt with Jason Spagoni, of 228 Heol Y Meinciau, Pontyates in his absence, he having previously pleaded not guilty to taking cockle outwith the conditions of a Permit when the cockle season was underway. The court heard that Spagoni and others had been gathering cockle in the Gwendraeth estuary on 1st October. Although the season was underway, being a Saturday, the beds were closed before reopening on each Monday and Tuesday. Having previously told the court he was only gathering a small amount for personal consumption, the Magistrates found him guilty in his absence of jointly gathering a significant amount in a ‘commercial enterprise’. Spagoni was fined £350 and ordered to pay £180 in costs. A co-defendant in the same circumstances, Ricky Owen of 27 Coed y Clun, Trimsaron had previously been found guilty of the same offence and that of aiding and abetting others similarly by the court on 20th March when he was fined a total of £450 plus £80 costs. These cases conclude a series of prosecutions mounted by the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee in response to activities associated with the cockle fishery in the Three Rivers area of Carmarthen Bay over the summer and autumn of 2005. Whilst precise figures are often elusive in such fisheries, it is estimated that over 9,000 tonnes of cockles worth over £6 million at first sale were harvested last year. These may have had a processed value of up to £30 million. From over 40 offence reports made to the Committee by its Officers, 37 individuals (including one company) appeared before Carmarthen Magistrates in March and April this year when fines and orders for costs totalling some £25460 were handed down. The Three Rivers cockle beds remain closed to gathering on stock management grounds. |
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