Illegal fishing scheme broken up in Scotland

Seventeen Scottish skippers and a processing firm have received fines totaling almost GBP 1 million for their part in the UK’s biggest fraud involving illegal catches of fish.

The men had admitted they were able to sell vast quantities of mackerel and herring by evading EU quotas. 

Three firms, one in Shetland and two in Peterhead, were involved in the black fish fraud, worth almost £63m.

Judge Lord Turnbull said the scam was “an episode of shame” for the industry.

Six more skippers, from Peterhead, also admitted their part in the illegal fish landing, during hearings at the High Court in Glasgow.

They are still to be sentenced, along with four others.

One of the processing companies, Alexander Buchan Limited, which operated a factory in Peterhead, was fined GBP 240,000.

The convictions came as the result of a seven-year investigation, Operation Trawler, after the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA), now Marine Scotland, became suspicious about widespread illegal landing of fish within the pelagic fleet.

Click here to read the full story from BBC News > 

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