Sentence is deferred on razor clam fisherman

AN OBAN fisherman who used electronic equipment to harvest razor clams in contravention of conservation laws was told to be of good behaviour for a year.

Sentence was deferred for a year when James Douglas, 48, of 1 Murdon House, Dunuaran Road, appeared at Campbeltown Sheriff Court last Thursday.

Mr Douglas, who owns the Ceonothus, pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to comply with a condition of the fishing licence relating to the vessel, in that equipment was carried on board capable of transmitting electrical currents to the seabed to fish for razor clams in contravention of a conservation order.

The offence carries a maximum fine of £ 50,000.

Douglas made his plea at an earlier hearing in December but Sheriff Ruth Anderson QC had adjourned sentence for a month. At that hearing the procurator fiscal told the court that on April 22 last year Marine Protection Agency officers, working on intelligence, had approached the Ceonothus in the Sound of Gigha.

At 4pm that afternoon officers saw a large box with cables attached being dumped off the side of the fishing boat. They boarded the boat and waited until a diver was called.

The fiscal said: ‘A standard catch of razor clams might be 50 to 70kg but using electrical methods it is possible to catch up to 400kg.

‘When officers boarded the Ceonothus they found 160kg.

‘The following morning a diver retrieved a blue box which was an electrical generator.

‘It was Mr Douglas’s brother who was in charge of the boat that day.’

Sheriff Anderson said: ‘I assume that at one time this was a recognised way of fishing. Leaving aside the conservation issues, it is quite tempting because of being able to collect eight times the catch.’

Last week, Sheriff Anderson told the court that there was a report by the Scottish Government in October 2014 into electro fishing for razor clams, which claimed that the harm to other organisms on the seabed was minimal. She said that report had recommended that further work be done on the impact (of electro fishing) on razor clams.

Sheriff Anderson deferred sentence for a year, until January 12, 2017, in the hope that a further report would be completed by that time with further details about the affect on razor clams.