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THE sentence handed to a fishing firm which flouted
EU quota regulations was a "let-off" that undermines attempts to
protect threatened fish species, an angling association has said.
The
Angling Trust has described its dismay at the two-year conditional
discharge handed to Newlyn-based W Stevenson and Sons in place of a
fine.
Judge
Philip Wassall sentenced the firm at Exeter Crown Court last week after
the firm pleaded guilty to running a scam between April and September
2002 which involved falsifying landing documents to sell more expensive
fish.
So-called
"black fish" from restricted species such as cod or hake were put
through the books as other types of fish for which there was spare
quota.
This enabled the company to break European rules designed to save dwindling fish stocks, the prosecution said.
Yesterday the Angling
Trust decried the sentence, citing the W Stevenson and Sons case as yet
another example of the "systematic abuse" of the fishing quota
regulations.
A
spokesman for the trust – which represents all game, coarse and sea
anglers and angling in England – said: "In respect of this judgement,
our impression from previous cases is that a conditional discharge is
in reality identified as a let off.
"The
implications are far reaching and in effect give commercial fishermen
the impression that they can now break fishing regulations in the
knowledge that they will not face serious sanctions.
"We
feel strongly that this endangers the interests of fish stocks and the
future of recreational and commercial fishing in the UK."
W
Stevenson and Sons admitted 37 charges of submitting a false sales note
to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The previous year, the company was found guilty at Truro Crown Court of eight similar charges of falsifying fish sales notes.
The
judge issued the firm with a confiscation order of £710,220 and also
ordered it to pay prosecution costs of £66,413. However, he decided
against a fine.
The trust spokesman said the commercial fishing industry is in receipt of more than £100 million in EU and Government grants.
On
the other hand, he said, the Recreational Sea Angling (RSA) sector
contributes £538 million to the economy and supports 19,000 jobs but
get no grants or financial support from the EU or Government.
He
said: "Recreational sea angling is a sustainable way of catching fish,
as it does not involve trawling which kills undersized fish and can
damage the sea bed so much that the whole ecosystem's productivity is
destroyed.
"Only fish which are required for personal consumption are taken by recreational anglers.
"The
commercial fishing has made some progress to improve its environmental
performance, but there is still widespread damage being caused and
illegal fishing is common."
John
Brooks, a Cornish regional member of the trust, said the organisation
was looking into what actions it could take in response to the sentence.
A
spokesman for the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA), which investigated the
W Stevenson and Sons scam, said it could not comment on the outcome of
the case as it was brought jointly by Defra and the Serious Organised
Crime Agency.
However, a spokesman for Defra said he believed it was a matter for the MFA.
article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS
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Breaking the law could never be the answer even though in this case the law is so obviously an ass. Fisheries offences are quite rightly criminal in nature but the quota laws have been unjust and unreasonable.
The falsification of sales records is another matter and substantial profits were generated from the blackfish involved. Indeed in was the sudden massive increase in "turbot" landings that let the cat out of the bag initially. This is where an unshakeable belief in its ability to walk on water led to the "firm's" downfall taking others of lesser financial means with it.
In the initial phase a simple guilty plea in the local magistrates court by all concerned would have resolved the matter with a few sharply rapped knuckles and a vastly expensive legal process largely financed by the public purse would have been avoided.
The "firm" chose to fight and to their credit fought well but it is a bit rich to talk of the streees involved when they were of their own choosing, the best thing they can do is swallow their medicine and get on with it.