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DIRECTOR’S REPORT FOR THE QUARTER ENDING 30^th JUNE 2006

Weather : Commencing cool with winds from the north east, turning warm and mainly settled. Seawater temperatures remained uncharacteristically cool throughout the period, considerably impacting upon growth and movement of (shell)fish.

Fishing Activity
Finfish Trawling was limited to small vessels taking ray and to a lesser extent sole and plaice.  The three larger ‘modernised’ trawlers used larger high lift trawls towed at speed on inshore grounds or offshore banks to target bass.   Off Cefn Sidan their legal (< 100mm) trawl nets caught undersized bass which had to be discarded – a lot of which were dead.  The operators voluntarily trialed square mesh panels to reduce this, but to limited effect.  Accordingly one operator voluntarily agreed not to fish these inshore areas.
However, even offshore, the activities of these boats caused complaint as, not for the first time, they reportedly ‘found’ bass on sand banks already being fished by rod and line, and towed close by.
Set netting at Porthcawl and in Carmarthen Bay took bass and rays according to the lay.  Within the protected estuaries various reports of illegal activity met with an enforcement response and some success. 
Bass of the prolific 2002 year class were evident, especially in angler’s catches.  Compliance was good although attention had to be made to Aberthaw outfall and the sluice on Cardiff barrage.

MOLLUSCS
Whelk : 7 of 13 boats continued to fish the Carmarthen Bay area making reasonable landings at £600 per tonne.  The reduction in effort will provide the stock with a bit of a ‘reprieve’ and is to be welcomed.

Scallop :  Dredge fishing continued to 1st June, mainly offshore and north of the district, landing to Milford.  SI 1717 prohibits scalloping between 1st June and 31st October.

Cockles : The legitimate cockle fishery was on a ‘go slow’.  Three Rivers remained officially closed although considerable effort had to be maintained to control poaching activity in Gwendraeth and Laugharne estuaries.  Burry Inlet cockles of the 2005 year class were too small to be marketable until May.  Even then they were below even 17.5mm size and much slower growing than would be normal for the time of year.  Some legal fishing took place at Cwm Ivy (Whiteford) to 17.5mm size.

In May cockles were again seen to die in the Burry Inlet, coincident it seems, with first spawning.  Mortality events seemed to spread to other patches although the south side was worst hit.  Monitoring by Marine Conservation Officer indicated that it was not necessarily density related.  Cockle licence holders were on ‘high alert’ and understandably very nervous following the catastrophic mortality events in recent years.  Accordingly a policy was put in place to ‘hedge’ bets, with an increase in quota, and occasional 7 day a week gathering targeted high density or perceived high risk areas.  These cockles were very small – below 17.5mm reduced size even reflecting the poor cockle growth in 2006.

Survey of the Three Rivers cockle beds took place and Molluscan Working Group considered a policy of limited re-opening under permit – especially off Laugharne which was not fished in 2005.  However, a cockle mortality event here on larger 2005 settled cockle gave rise to a Public Health Closure for 28 days commencing 9th June 2006.  Re-survey after this date indicated that insufficient cockle remained to open the beds and these remained closed.  This, however, did not stop the ‘night brigade’ who continued to poach cockles that otherwise might have died, thus forcing the service into the possibly futile task of policing these beds potentially for no benefit  To the contrary, if stocks were low then the protection of cockles present in this area might be essential to provide future spawning stock.  Who knows?

Just to complicate matters further, Committee received reports that CCW wanted the beds kept closed on environmental disturbance grounds and Carmarthenshire County Council issued a pre-judicial review notice upon the Committee if it were to re-open, ostensibly on ecological grounds but widely believed to be due to political expediency.  Whatever, the cockles died to no social or economic benefit.  Ironically, if the Committee is successful in its job of protecting cockles the whole process can be repeated for 2006.

Mussels : Some <50 tonnes continued to be taken from the Burry Port area by vessel dredge or hand dredge operated from the vessel.  Price £500/£600 per tonne.  It seems that starfish found and gorged the bed but not before fishing took place.  Such is a common event!

CRUSTACEANS
Pot fishing effort gradually increased throughout the quarter, assisted by generally favourable weather.  Lobsters were initially slow to move, believed due to the low water temperatures.  Spider crab were again abundant leading to poor markets for small, and Merchants quotas for large.   Edible crab landings were again poor – as similarly reported throughout the UK.

Lobster V-notching took off in earnest facilitated by the collective efforts of fishermen to pool catches.  Reflecting the low (summer) prices and uncertainty of future cockle management; Fishery Officers set about closing 2005 shortfall and getting ahead of 2006 targets.  Good weather assisted and soon we were ahead of target.

In most cases V-notched lobsters were returned with an additional white or blue band on the smaller claw to aid identification and learn more about movements.

Sadly, lobster fishermen on some parts of Gower again reported interference to gear and alleged theft of lobsters by divers.  Fishery Officers stepped up a presence but, as reported in 2003, this is really a matter for the Police.

GENERAL
The Fishery Protection Vessel finally exited refit on 8th May, following engine refurbishment and sea trials to iron out the various faults.  These were beyond SWSFC control but extended refit from the planned five weeks to nine weeks.  Patrol then commenced in earnest and included V-notching and bottom discrimination work for the Marine Conservation Officer (MCO) using borrowed Sidescan Sonar and Sledge towed video.  Unfortunately poor weather limited much of the work to the Milford Haven rather than Carmarthen/Swansea Bays as planned.

The MCO and Biologist were heavily involved in cockle survey work in April/May and then cockle mortality monitoring.  Re-survey of Whiteford Point for mussel seed also commenced, and work on Appropriate Assessments was ongoing.

Acting Senior Fishery Officer position was confirmed on permanent basis, and FO (mid) returned to work in May after a long absence.  This brought staff numbers to full compliment for the first time since 1989!

New Biotoxin (DSP) test : Five years since CEFAS began testing for DSP a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for transporting shellfish sample for toxin testing and for extracting DSP toxin has been put in place.  Samples are now transported in insulted cool boxes with temperature control criteria to ensure that shellfish (cockles in particular) are in a good state when received by the laboratory.  The solvents used in the extraction process are now ‘pre-saturated’ to avoid emulsion formation and water back wash volumes have been increased.  Filtration has been replaced by centrifugation.  Shellfish Association Great Britain believes this problem is now solved and is nowconsidering a compensation claim against UK government.

GOVERNMENT CONSULTATIONS ON (SHELL)FISH CONSERVATION MEASURES : Following the Prime Ministers Strategy Report ‘Net Benefits’, Government are now consulting on a range of pro-active stock management initiatives for inshore waters.  These include increase in bass minimum size, netting controls, ray size, lobster minimum size and broodstock protection.  It has taken government some time to catch up with the SWSFC which has developed initiatives on all of these as far as its powers and practicalities allow.  In fact, its netting controls date back to the 1980s and go beyond even what government propose now!

NOTE :  Some inspections are covered under more than one legislation and therefore can appear as more than one count in each period.

OUTSTANDING CASES

CONCLUDED CASES - END JUNE 2006
Due to the volume of court cases arising from the Three Rivers Cockle Fishery this section is limited to cases of particular substance or of note. Other cockle cases were summarised in the previous Quarterly Directors Report.

Case One
DEFENDANTS        
DAVID JOHNATHAN HARRIES THOMAS; of 6 Eynon Villas, Narberth, Pembs

CHARGES
Took 3 undersized lobsters; contrary to Byelaw 3.
Retained on board a further 3 undersized lobsters; contrary to EU Reg. 850/98
(Charges were brought under EU Regulations due to a claim made under caution by the defendant that the Lobster Minimum Size byelaw was ambiguous).

COURT SCHEDULE;
Haverfordwest Magistrates Court;
20 February 06; First call, not guilty indications by letter.
9 March 06; Pre trial review.
19 April 06; Trial, adjourned after prosecution case for court to receive legal argument.
19 June 06; Trial continues to conclusion.

PROSECUTION CASE
On 17 June 05, Fishery Officers Hamblin and Tilling were patrolling in a Rigid Inflatable Patrol Boat along the Milford Haven waterway. They boarded the defendant’s fishing boat ‘Bounty’ M1119 near the Carr Jetty. An initial inspection revealed 2 undersized lobsters and these were release with the intention of issuing a verbal warning only. However, a further cache of lobster was discovered and this contained the 6 lobsters subsequently the subject of the preferred charges.

DEFENCE CASE
It was contended, in cross examination of the Officers that the lobster minimum size byelaw was ambiguous in describing how the size of a lobster (its carapace length) should be measured. They gave clear evidence of how to measure a lobster and of the clear understanding thereof that existed within the fishing industry in South Wales. A flyer produced by the Committee to publicize its lobster V notching programme was produced in the contention that it added to the confusion felt by the defendant.

The charges had been formed around the information of one FO’s witness statement which had recorded the date of the offence on the day before it actually happened. An attempt to discredit the Officers on that basis was soundly resisted.

The above two matters were the subject of a submission of ‘No case to Answer’ at the close of the Prosecution case. To those matters were added an issue regarding the section of the nations Statutory Instrument under which the EU charge had been brought, together with an issue raise regarding an apparent typographical error which crept in between the National Assembly and the Stationery Office.

The case was adjourned for the parties to submit written legal argument to the court. In the Defence submission a further matter, contending that no offence had been committed due to the lobsters still being within the SFC district, was made.

Upon the resumption of the case one month later, the Prosecution response successfully defused this application using a combination of charge amendment, case law and common sense. The defence case then proceeded to conclusion with no new argument introduced.

VERDICT
The court found the defendant not guilty on the EU charge on a mistaken (in the author’s opinion) belief that it was required to be proved he was the complete owner of the vessel as well as the skipper. He was found guilty on the Byelaw charge.

SENTENCE
The Defendant was fined £100 and ordered to pay £500 in costs (£585 application).

COMMENT
The Committee subsequently revisited the Lobster Minimum Size Byelaw and whilst considering it had stood the test of time, made a small amendment to defuse any further attempt to frustrate its intention. The ‘not guilty’ verdict on the EU charge could have been successfully appealed to the High Court, but on reflection the Director concluded the point did not merit the resources.

Case Two
DEFENDANTS
Jennifer Cruickshank; of 3 Lower Trostre Rd, Morfa, Llanelli.
Paul Underwood; 26 Nightingale Court, Llanelli.
Craig Moore; 6 Heol Y Pentre, Pont Henri. Llanelli.

CHARGES

1. Removed cockles at night.
2. Removed undersized cockles.

COURT SCHEDULE
Carmarthen Magistrates’ Court
20 March 2006; Defendants attend, indicate ‘not guilty’ pleas.
3 April 2006; Defendants represented. Adjourned for Pre Trial Review.
24 April 2006; PTR, defence outlined. Adjourned for Trial.

PROSECUTION CASE
Shortly before midnight on 29 September 2005, Officers Hamblin and Tilling were in the Gwendraeth estuary observing from the north side of the river. On the south shore were a number of vehicles with associated persons gathering cockles.

Leaving their position, they drove to Pembrey where, at the beach exit road they encountered the defendants who were in a 4WD vehicle which was towing a trailer. Approximately one tonne of cockle was being removed, all of which was below the cockle minimum size and having a value approaching £600.

DEFENCE CASE
The defence case did not dispute the facts in that they admitted gathering the undersized cockle at night, but it was contended that the evidence had been collected unlawfully by the Officers in that they had firstly, stopped the defendants vehicle several miles from the fishery and in a position which the defence said was out with the Fishery District to where the exercise of their powers was confined, and secondly, that they had set up an unlawful road block.

Since the evidence had been obtained unlawfully, it should be excluded.

VERDICT
The court declined to accept the points of law made by the defence and found the defendants ‘guilty’.

SENTENCE
Each defendant was fined £100 on each charge and ordered to pay an equal share of prosecution costs of £360 (full application)

COMMENTARY
Sea Fisheries Districts are defined as the sea area and the ‘adjoining coast’. Just how far inland such a definition takes the District and therefore the Officer’s powers, has exercised the minds of SFC’s for some time. In the end, the common sense, purposive approach has won through in this case and it may be expected to do so again. Until a case reaches the High Court there will always be an element of doubt.