£8000 fine for French Fishermen

20 October 2006

20 October 2006

Undersized Crabs – Père Jules incident of 15 June

The sentencing today of both the owner and skipper of the fishing boat Père Jules has sent a strong message to professional fishermen that catching undersized fish or shellfish will be viewed as a serious offence by the Jersey Courts.

In the Royal Court today they were each fined a total of £8,000 and their fishing gear (worth about £1000) was confiscated, when 882 undersized crabs were found on the boat by a Jersey boarding party.

At a recent Granville Bay management meeting on 12 October in Cherboug, French and Jersey fishermen condemned the landing of undersized shellfish and agreed that it should be punished severely.

The Environment Minister Senator Freddie Cohen said: ’In Jersey, we take the conservation of the marine environment very seriously and I am very pleased that the Jersey Court has made it clear that it shares that view. This is an important message for the fleets which fish in our waters and demonstrates that illegal fishing which threatens the environment will not be tolerated. ’

Regular routine patrol work is carried out by the Fisheries Department’s 15 metre patrol vessel, the Norman Le Brocq. The Père Jules offence came to light during a routine patrol on 15 June when Fisheries officers checked the bait in several strings of pots set by the Père Jules to the north of Jersey by hauling the gear using hydraulic apparatus fitted to the vessel.

Two strings, baited mainly with undersize spider crabs, were seized and taken to St Helier, with118 pots in total seized. The Norman Le Brocq then sailed with a crew of four just after midnight the next morning (16 June) and monitored the area using electronic aids fitted earlier this year.

The Père Jules was boarded just before 4.00 a.m. and found to have 882 undersized spider crabs on board.

The vessel was detained and taken to St Helier, where the skipper was arrested.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. For more information, contact Dr Simon Bossy on 441611 or Mike Smith on 441667

1. Following a similar day and night operation on 22 June, the French vessel La Spatule was detained and the skipper and owner were fined a total of £1000 with 90 pots confiscated for fishing in a zone not authorised by the Bay of Granville treaty.

1. Another day and night operation on 4 July resulted in the French vessel La Providence being detained for using undersize spider crabs as bait and fishing in a zone not authorised by the bay of Granville treaty. The skipper and owner were subsequently fined a total of £5,800.

1. Three other daytime patrols have resulted in the skippers/owners of three other vessels being prosecuted for fishing in zones not authorised by the bay of Granville treaty.