2 UK skippers arrested by French, boats towed to France, heavy fines.
Spanish skipper commits worse offence in UK and is let off with warning.

And all of this at Starmer’s Summit Sell-Out time

Either side of Sir Keir’s EU Reset Summit, a story of two-tier justice in the EU and the UK?

Many readers will be aware that around the time of Sir Keir’s ‘Sell-Out Summit’ for the UK’s fishermen, a British skipper had his boat (the ‘Lady T’) boarded by a French patrol vessel and was escorted to a French port where he was charged in front of a judge and given a hefty fine for fishing in French waters. This happened just four days after the Summit, on 23rd May.

EXCLUSIVE: What happened before AND after the Summit

For the first time, the UK Fisheries Campaign, in association with GB News and CIBUK, can tell a more complete story of events which transpired in the run-up to, and the aftermath of, Sir Keir’s ‘Summer Sale’ which gave the EU access to UK waters for free for 12 more years. This story involves two British skippers’ brush with French justice, and a Spanish skipper’s experience of a very lenient application of a UK version.

In this case the British skipper was hauled into court and handed a hefty fine, believed to be between €30-50,000 although the accounts vary. The Prémar stated that the operation “sends a clear signal to those who might be tempted to fish illegally in French waters.”

The Prémar made no mention of the French navy sending any clear signal to the thousands of illegal migrants crossing French waters nor of the escort service to UK waters they have been providing.

Meanwhile, far to the north, a Spanish skipper committing a worse offence is granted a different, very lenient, form of UK justice

In the days before the Prime Minister held his ‘EU Reset Summit’, the Spanish Master of a boat that had been fishing in UK waters off Shetland was interviewed under caution regarding a serious offence involving a massive and prolonged contravention of UK and international fishing laws, causing serious environmental damage.

RESULT? The UK authorities let him off with a warning 

Deeply unfortunate timing for the Prime Minister

Mere licensing illegalities on the part of British fishermen – stupid though they might have been – were dealt with in the harshest manner possible by the French. Meanwhile in the UK, an offence of enormous magnitude by a Spanish skipper – albeit one that began unintentionally – occasioned no more than a metaphorical slap on the wrist.

As the word spread in the local area of Shetland of the extraordinary-looking leniency towards a vessel with a Spanish Master – and with owners of Spanish origin living in Spain (according to Companies House) – questions began to be asked.

The response from the SNP Scottish Government was muted. No press release appears on its website. They merely confirmed the vessel’s Master had been interviewed under caution, that an offence had been committed, but that a letter of warning had been deemed appropriate and no further action would be taken. The detail of this is below but first here is what we have discovered about happened in UK waters.

The story of the EU-crewed boat

Fishermen who are Supporters and Members of the UK Fisheries Campaign (see below for credits) have accessed electronic positioning records and the UKFC can reveal the massive scale of this fishing operation by this one Spanish-skippered vessel.

This form of fishing is so brutal, there are strict rules

The offence committed by the Master of the vessel was in not hauling in the nets within the 72-hour maximum period allowed, known as the “soak time”.  Clearly he was not able to do this because of the gearbox failure, so the legal question is: what did he do to minimise the environmental damage by getting another boat to haul in his netting for him with the minimum possible delay?

Currently, the UK’s maritime agencies continue to allow the EU fleet to use this method of fishing, against the protests of local fishermen, NGOs, and politicians up to and including the Chairman of the Commons Select Committee on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP. Using this form of netting is not illegal in UK waters. Leaving the nets in the water for more than 72 hours most definitely is.

After her gearbox failure the Genesis II waited for another boat belonging to the same owners, called the Eder Sands, to come and tow her into Lerwick. It seems that no UK-skippered boats – which were closer –  were asked to help. This meant the Genesis II was not towed back into port until 07.38am on 3^rd May. Meanwhile the 52 miles of gill netting were left out there, continuing to catch and kill more and more marine life – something known as ‘ghost fishing’.

The ‘ghost fishing’ carried on….

For a reason that has not been explained, the Eder Sands did not pick up the netting before towing the Genesis II back to Lerwick. Nor did she go out to pick up the netting after leaving the Genesis II in Lerwick. Instead she…. [We need to know where she went, when, and what she did, from tracking reports.]

With the Genesis II in Lerwick port waiting for parts to arrive, almost two weeks passed from the breakdown until eventually another boat owned by the same company arrived in the area on the 15^th and started hauling in the gill netting. This boat, the Brisan, also owned by the same company as the Genesis II, finally brought the nets into the port of Lerwick at 09.41am on the morning of 16^th May.

The pictures below were taken by the UK Fisheries Campaign’s supporters and show the volume of some of this netting, which required many skips to accommodate it all.

This netting had been continuing to catch (and kill) all types of marine life for around two weeks longer than the maximum limit of 72 hours. Based on the landing of catches by the Genesis II in the previous weeks, we know she was landing approximately 20 tonnes of fish each trip, equivalent to more than two tonnes per day. This means her 52 miles of static gill nets will have caught approximately 25 tonnes of marine life during the period the nets were past their 72 hour deadline to be hauled in.

So what did the UK authorities do and say about this major offence?

There is no press release on the website of the Scottish government nor of its Marine Directorate. However, the UK Fisheries Campaign and GB News has seen a leaked copy of an email from the Directorate which was sent on 22^nd May, four days after Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘Surrender Summit’ with the EU, containing what it says is a statement that was issued by Holyrood’s SNP government.  In this statement, (full wording below this article), the Scottish government says :

“It is an offence to leave this type of net in the sea for more than 72 hours. The master of the vessel has been interviewed under caution regarding this offence.”

However they went on: 

“There is no consideration provided in the legislation for vessel breakdown. There appears to have been no intention to breach soak time requirements, the breakdown was an unforeseeable circumstance that prevented the master from fulfilling their obligation, otherwise described as Force Majure [sic], this impacts the available enforcement options.  The master has since been issued with a warning letter.  Any further infringements will be investigated with consideration to this incident.”

The interesting words are “appears to have been”. This suggests a proper investigation was not carried out and leads to many questions for the Scottish government and its Marine Directorate. We detail these below. What is even more surprising is that in the leaked copy of this email dated 22nd May, the Marine Directorate’s Head of Enforcement then added: 

“No further enforcement action will be taken.”

With this decision being taken around the time of Sir Keir’s EU Reset Summit, there are questions to answer

It would have been very embarrassing for the Prime Minister if this case had gone to court, as ‘it appears’ this would have happened in the same week as his Summit. On the one hand he was announcing the giveaway of access to the EU to UK waters – in some cases up to the six-mile limit from UK shores – and on the other hand the press would have reported on a fishing vessel’s Spanish Master being fined in the order of £50,000 for an offence involving a form of fishing deemed so environmentally destructive it is illegal in many territories.

Clearly the Genesis II did not choose to break down, but there are nevertheless some important questions to answer, to understand why severe action was not taken by the authorities:-

We have put all these questions to the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government but they have not responded other than to acknowledge receipt.

GB News and the UK Fisheries Campaign (UKFC) also approached the owners of the boats involved to respond to our questions and here is their statement:-

“…………………………………………………………………………………………..”
“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..”
“…………………………………………………………………………………………..”

– Maria Hernandez, Director, Hooktone Ltd

Abuse of gill netting regulations is taken very seriously – an example from EU’s Ireland

The environmental damage caused by gill net fishing can be so bad that it has long been banned in many territories around the world.  When a captain is caught abusing the regulations in territories where it is still allowed, (including the EU and therefore the UK under inherited EU laws), the punishments are severe. Here is an example from Ireland – an EU member country.

In July 2020, the Irish authorities boarded another Spanish-owned gillnetter and found that it had left its nets in place for 50 hours longer than the permitted 72 hour limit.  The Master of that vessel, the Pesorsa Dos, was prosecuted at Donegal Circuit Criminal Court and fined €50,000 (c. £45,000).  The value of the catch at the time was estimated at €44,500, so it can be seen what a lucrative form of fishing this can be.

What UK fishermen think about this story

The UK Fisheries Campaign has received many comments from fishermen about this. Here is one which encapsulates the general feeling :-

“Not surprisingly, time and again, we see the lax attitude of the hopelessly inefficient Marine Scotland at policing our waters from these foreign invaders for serious incidents.
“Not only from a rule-breaking perspective but also from an ecological perspective, the amount of marine wildlife needlessly killed by the Genesis II’s nets left hanging in the water for weeks on end, makes this incident truly worrying.
“Marine Scotland have yet again sent out a message to these these foreign Masters, that they are effectively allowed to fish with complete impunity from rules and regulations within our waters.
“Meanwhile UK vessels get dealt with harshly for minor infringements by the French, our so-called European partners, to whom ‘our’ Prime Minister has opened up our waters for the next 12 years!”

– Ryan Mouat, Fisherman

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Statement from the Scottish Government, in full