Scottish fishermen exceed limits by £8m

Four skippers of fishing boats admitted last month in the Edinburgh High Court that they had exceeded their quota of fish by a level that made them more than £8million. The charges  relate to illegal landings of mackerel and herring at Peterhead between 2002 and 2005, when the skippers falsely declared the quantity of fish they landed as a means of evading the allocated annual fishing quota.

James Duthie, master of the Sunbeam, had made 56 landings worth £1,936,546.
Ian Buchan, master of the Quantus, had made 49 landings worth £4,495,568.
John Macleod, master of the Charisma and the Prowess had made landings worth £1,159,761.
Michael Macleod, master of the Charisma CY88 had made 34 landings worth £907,840.

Sentence was deferred until March 23, 2012, but the Crown commenced confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 against the skippers.

Cephas Ralph, Head of Compliance at Marine Scotland said: ‘Illegal fishing is a crime committed against the marine environment and the many honest fishermen who abide by the regulations and fish responsibly.’