Over length nets not allowed A Porthcawl fisherman had penalties totalling £580 imposed upon him after Bridgend Magistrates heard that Fishery Officers had seen him using over-length nets from his boat. Sitting in Bridgend on 21 September, the Court heard how the boat ‘Violet Eileen’ skippered and owned by Abraham Prescott of 16 Pen y Fford, North Cornelly had been boarded off Porthcawl on 23 May by Officers from the Fishery Patrol Vessel ‘Cranogwen’ operated by South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. Officers observed net markers in the water over Nash Bank, a well known local bass fishing area. The distance between the sets of markers suggested the nets between were in excess of the Byelaw limit of 200 metres, a fact confirmed by the defendant. After the nets were hauled and seized subsequent examination revealed one to be 484 metres long and the other was 261 metres long. In addition to these findings Officers established that the mesh size of one of the nets at 93mm was less than the Byelaw limit of 100mm. The court heard how nets limitations were an important element in the range of bass and other finfish conservation measures that were in place ensuring that smaller fish escaped to grow larger and that localized stocks were not over exploited. |
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