Drift netting took place in banned area Two Llanelli fishermen had fines of £200 and costs of £50 imposed upon them after Magistrates sitting in Llanelli heard how Officers from the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee had discovered them drift netting in a prohibited area in north west Carmarthen Bay. Officers had been patrolling in the early hours of 25 September in a rigid inflatable boat launched from the Committee’s Patrol Vessel ‘Cranogwen’. From a position on the prohibited area boundary and using vision enhancing equipment they observed a number of nets and two small boats near them within the area. Drift netting prohibited areas have been established under local Byelaw to protect migrating salmon and sewin and to prevent the over-exploitation of sea fish, notably bass, when they are in the confines of shallow water and channels found in the estuaries along the coast. The boats belonged to the defendants Jeffery Dennis Staples of 20 Bryn Mead, Llanelli and to Kevin Patrick O’Keefe of 5 Heol Daniel, Llanelli. They were each operating two drift nets of some 200 metres in length; these were seized by the Officers. Both defendants pleaded guilty to the charge and had an additional £15 victim surcharge added to the bill. |
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