Press release
Marine and Fisheries Agency (Communications)
Area 6C, 3-8 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH
Tel: 020 7270 1985
Date: 12/02/2008 Reference: 01/08
Belgian Owner Fined Maximum After Beamer Tries to Flee
Belgian beam trawler, Zilvermeeuw, pursued by fishery protection officers
An international team of fishery protection officers were forced to jump aboard a Belgian beam trawler from their small rubber RIB after the fishing vessel tried to speed away in the dark, a court heard.
The drama came at early in the morning on February 6 in the southern North Sea, 13 miles off Ramsgate, in a joint deployment exercise involving the Marine and Fisheries Agency, the Royal Navy Fishery Protection Squadron, and the Dutch, Belgian, and French fishery protection authorities.
Harwich Magistrates, sitting on February 8, were told that a British Fishery Officer from HMS Tyne was operating with Dutch and French colleagues from the Dutch protection vessel the Barend Biesheuvel.
They launched a boarding party in a rubber RIB to inspect the Zilvermeeuw which was fishing for sole.
But instead of replying to radio calls and lowering a ladder to allow officers to board the trawler safely, which the master is obliged to do by law, the court heard that the Zilvermeeuw stayed silent, hauled its gear, and increased speed as the boarding party approached.
Magistrates heard that the officers managed to jump aboard the back of the vessel as it speeded up. On inspection they found blinders attached to both trawls net which were still stashed to the side of the vessel. The Zilvermeeuw was then escorted into Harwich by the Barend Biesheuvel.
The owners and skipper of the Belgian beam trawler, Zilvermeeuw, were ordered to pay a total of £24,350 after pleading guilty to two offences of using blinders, or false liners, in their nets, and a charge of failing to facilitate a boarding for inspection at sea.
In the case brought by the Marine and Fisheries Agency, owners Zeearend BVBA, of Knokke Heist, Belgium, were fined the maximum £5,000 for each of the three offences, and ordered to pay £3,500 towards the value of the catch, and costs of £2,050. A total of £20,550.
They were also ordered to forfeit the blinders.
Skipper, Patrick Martony, 46, also of Knokke Hesit was fined a total of £3,000 for the same offences and ordered to pay £800 towards the value of the catch. The court was told he was asleep at the time his vessel was boarded by the team of fishery officers.
Notes to Editors
The Marine and Fisheries Agency is an executive agency of Defra which is tasked with service delivery, inspection, and enforcement of the fishing industry and other marine users in England and Wales.
The MFA has overall responsibility for the enforcement of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and its associated regulations within the 60,000 square miles of English and Welsh waters.
Any vessel, regardless of size or nationality, fishing in British waters is subject to inspection which is designed to conserve fish stocks and protect the interests of the fishing industry as a whole.
MFA's key objectives are:
- to be a key partner in the management of marine fisheries
- to enforce regulations, professionally, consistently and fairly
- to contribute to the sustainable use of the marine environment
- to provide specialist information to inform the development of policy and its effective implementation.
MFA press contact: Peter Hooley 0207-270-1985 / 07771-505-655