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21st April 2010
The first Charter boat skipper to be prosecuted under the much talked about 12 meter by law in the Southern Sea Fisheries District received a summons yesterday to appear before the magistrates on 6th May 2010
The summons was accompanied by some seventy pages of legal paper work for the young stand in skipper Lyle Stanford who was in charge of the Weymouth charter boat Channel Chieftain on a day when the boats clients were the ‘River Cottage’ crew who have used the boat in the past to film for the TV show, but on this occasion were entertaining some guest on a fish and cook on the boat charter, something for which this fine boat is geared up to cater for.
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Here we offer a brief recap of events leading to this prosecution.
The by law was introduced many years ago following concerns of local commercial crabbing boats suffering at the invasion primarily from the channel islands of larger boats which were seen to be taking large amounts of spider crab. The law prohibits the use of any vessel to take fish from within the six mile limit of the waters know as ‘The Southern Sea Fisheries District’
At the time there were few Recreational Sea Angling (RSA) Charter Boats operating and those that were running mostly worked a duel purpose boat using a commercial licence for fishing and as a charter operation as a secondary part of there business. As the RSA sport began to grow some skippers opted to concentrate there operation solely as a charter boat others simply started a charter boats business from scratch but almost all of the boats were under twelve meters in length. From early in the new millennium skippers began to realise the potential that RSA offered and as a result the charter fleet began to upgrade with the introduction of catamarans. These boats were lighter faster more economic to operate and offered the anglers a more stable platform from which to fish along with other facilities like a decent toilet which has encouraged more females to join the ranks of the RSAs a cabin offering shelter and some where for anglers to sit and eat in comfort, they are after all passengers with many having little or no previous experience of a life at sea. The size of the cat’s grew though it must be stressed were and still are restricted to a maximum of twelve anglers no mater how big the boat. Probably the largest to date is the vessel at the centre of the dispute right now. The Channel Chieftain which was designed with the intention of offering a complete package fishing holiday with on board berths showers and cooking facilities ideal for those whishing to have several days at sea including cross channel trips. This boat was brought to the attention of the Chief Fishery Officer (CFO) of the Southern Sea Fisheries who ordered his men to board the Chieftain during an international fishing competition being held in the waters around Weymouth. The skipper was cautioned and told that any further infringement of the bylaw would lead to prosecution. As a result the Charter Boat skippers asked for an amendment to be made to the bylaw excluding registered charter boats from the bylaw as the size of the boats made no difference to the impact on fish stock in the district. The CFO disputed this and advised the committee to reject the application on the grounds that they did in fact have an impact on the fish stock and that a change to the bylaw would be meet with an out cry of protest from the commercial boat owners.
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In early 2008 the situation was brought to my notice so I entered the fray all be it a little late in the day as the committee had already voted to reject the application. However I was granted the opportunity to address the committee at there April meting in Dorchester and left them in no doubt as to my disapproval at there decision and made it clear that I would continue to support the overwhelming lobby that opposed this decision, particularly because the committee had been miss informed by there CFO who they employ to give unbiased recommendations that are seldom challenged under the current Sea Fishery set up. After several phone calls to the CFO I offered to put forward a new proposal that might be more acceptable but it needed the support of both the RSA charter skippers and the commercial operators. An open meeting was arranged and was chaired by the former Chairman of the SSFC the CFO and myself, the idea was to sound out any possibility to relax the twelve meter rule to all fishing boats that did not tow gear. Some useful points emerged from the meeting not least the discovery as to why the rule had been sought in the first place which is as mentioned above. The Chairman also told the meting that he had chaired the SSFC meeting at the time the original bylaw was introduced and that it had never been intended to be applied to RSA charter boats. Finally while the idea that I had proposed was to be rejected as it went against the original principle of the by law the commercial operators made it quite clear that they would never have had any objection to the amendment that the RSA had sought and this was in complete contrast to the advice given to the committee by the CFO.
The next step in the saga took place when the committee again voted on advice from the CFO that ‘HE’ the CFO should be the one to decide when any legal action be taken against any one thought to be in breach of the SFC bylaws. It’s a bit like giving a chief constable of a land based police force the same powers when such decisions are made by the independent Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) and as such there decision is possibly illegal. What ever the case all will soon be resolved by the powers that be, but one thing is for sure, it will be very interesting from this point on and we will as promised be watching every move.
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I will make no bones about my disapproval of the current CFO of the Southern Sea Fisheries and these are personal views to which I' am fully entitled.
During this dispute the CFO held talks with some of the RSA charter skippers and to avert a possible judicial review he promised to recommend that the committee take a look at what impact the over twelve meter RSA charter boats had over the under twelve's in a study of catches on each type over a two or five year period. However when this idea was presented to the full meting of the SSFC his recommendation was that they should not do this.
Should the SSFC loose this case then it is likely that the bylaw will be struck out leaving the area open to all to plunder the district waters the one thing I have sought to ovoid from the out set.
This is the same CFO who was exposed by a local BBC documentary programme on two occasions for complacency one he has since dealt with concerning illegal oyster fishing in Poole Harbour the other remains on going and that is the illegal Bass fishing in Langston harbour.
He has publicly accused charter boat skippers of selling fish illegally but if true why then has he not taken any action, further more he has been unsuccessful in dealing with divers who he knows take and illegally sell Plaice from boats launched at Portland, this as a result of possible inside information. Then there is the situation that I personally brought to his attention that some commercial boats operating out of Weymouth are in contravention of this twelve meter bylaw. They have an MCA certificate he assures me that says they are under twelve meters which is an offence in it’s self because I have measured them using the MCA guild lines. He has refused to act when clearly he should but then one of the boats in question belongs to the son of the current chairman of the SSFC. My final complaint is that in this day and age of the internet the SSFC web site for which the CFO is responsible, has not been updated since August 2006 denying every one the right to look at what the SSFC are up to when spending public money. This same web site clearly states that the bylaw in question is for commercial boats that sell there catch which is not the case when it comes to RSA charter boats.
Some thing smells very fishy don't you think. Tight lines Bob Shotter |
