http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/6639123.stm
A court has punished a Belgian fisherman after a high speed chase.
Quote:
The captain of a Belgian trawler caught fishing illegally in the North Sea after an 18-mile high speed chase has been fined more than £10,000.
The Ministry of Defence said the beam trawler De Marie Louise was spotted fishing illegally on Friday night.
A crew from HMS Severn, a Royal Navy Fisheries Protection Vessel, chased the trawler and detained the boat off the coast of Scarborough.
The owner and captain were fined £10,480 each on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Defence said HMS Severn's rigid inflatable boat chased the trawler at full speed for 18 miles.
Illegal nets
The crew, led by Lt Simon Austin, managed to board the Marie Louise while both vessels were still moving.
On it they found hidden freezers full of undersized sole which had already been prepared and filleted.
The 11-hour operation ended when HMS Severn escorted the vessel into the Port of Tyne at South Shields.
The captain and owner were fined by the Fisheries Court in North Shields on Wednesday.
The vessel was also ordered to forfeit its nets, which were illegally adapted using "blinders" to reduce the size of the mesh.
It was further ordered to forfeit its illegal cargo of undersized sole and was banned from the fishing ground for five days.
Lt Cdr Rex Cox, the commanding officer of HMS Severn, said: "This is an excellent result that means my grandchildren will grow up being able to know the taste of fish from the North Sea."
Now you might be wondering why I chose this quote for Safespeed.... but my point is that if we park a vehicle illegally, or legally in some cases, it can be towed away and crushed.
Forget or deliberately fail to tax your car - same result, yet here we have a trawler captain, who has DELIBERATELY set out to break the law - illegal nets, hidden compartments, and caught plundering immature fish, and aside from the fine and confiscation of nets, he gets.... a five day ban from fishing!
Given we are told there are too many boats chasing too few fish, and British boats are being decommissioned and DESTROYED, surely this was a clear case where the BOAT should have been destroyed, just as many motorists have their livelyhoods destroyed!
I'm sorry Lt.Cdr. Cox, but this boat will be at it again, and ever more vigilant, and your grandchildren are just as likely to go without fresh Sole in the future as they were before the court handed down such a paltry punishment.
You've more chance Lt.Cdr. Cox of getting your car crushed if you failed to park it properly before you put to sea!
The two £10,480 fines barely cover the costs of the Fishery Protection vessel putting to sea once a week - and yet it has an enormous area to patrol, and has achieved such a lot, only to be let down in court.
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