FV ALPHAVER
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Owner of trawler fined for illegally fishing
The master and owner of the "Alphaver" which was caught fishing illegally off Cornwall was fined £25,000 by Bodmin Magistrates. The fisheries protection vessel HMS "Severn" had seized the "Alphaver" in the Celtic Sea off Cornwall and escorted her into Newlyn in June 2014. Officers found that the boat’s two main nets had been tampered with to make the mesh smaller. The case was originally scheduled to be heard on July 2 at Truro Magistrates but was adjourned for four weeks with the owner paying a £75,000 bond to allow the "Alphaver" back to sea. When the case was heard the master, Fabrice Pellae of Plozevet, was ordered to pay £500 plus a victim surcharge of £50 and the owner, Clement Cochou of Plonéour-Lanvern, France, was ordered to pay £1,000 plus a victim surcharge of £100, plus costs of £4059.50. But the court also ordered the value of the catch L’Alphaver had in her hold at the time she was seized be forfeited – set at an estimated £20,000. The court heard that strengthening nets designed to sit inside the main nets had been offset, creating a much smaller mesh that would catch more and smaller fish than the L'Alphaver was supposed to be catching. The fines will be taken from the £75,000 bond.
Skipper charged with tampering with his nets
Te skipper of the "Alphaver" which was boarded by fisheries protection officers off Cornwall has been charged with tampering with his nets nets at Truro Magistrates Court. The trawler was fishing NW of Cornwall on June 30, 2014, inside British waters, when it was stopped by the fisheries protection vessel HMS "Severn", and ship and crew detained after having been escorted to Newlyn. On July 3 the owner Clement Cochou, of Plone'our-Lanvern in France, appeared before Truro Magistrates and was charged with two counts of trawling with nets that had been altered to reduce their mesh and catch smaller fish. Cochou agreed a bond with the Maritime Management Organisation and has been told to attend court again on July 30. A spokesperson for the Maritime Management Organisation said the charges were brought under article 3(1) of the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Conservation Measures) Order 2000 (SI 2000/1081) as read with article 16 of Council Regulation (EC) 850/1998 and article 6 of Commission Regulation (EEC) 3440/84.
Arrested
The trawler Alphaver was arrested by a fisheries protection vessel and escorted to Newlyn, Cornwall.
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