A joint control operation in the south North Sea allows discovering the utilisation of blinders

Within the framework of the joint deployment plan for cod in the North Sea coordinated by the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA), a possible infringement, in which blinders were being utilised by a Dutch fishing vessel, was detected in the course of a joint operation involving three Member States (the Netherlands, France and Belgium). In fact, joint deployment plans are the vehicle through which the CFCA organises the deployment of national human and material means of control and inspection pooled by Member States, thus ensuring European Added Value in the Union monitoring control and surveillance efforts.

During a control operation on the 8th November, for which the French fisheries monitoring centre (FMC) at CROSS A Etel was in charge, the French inspection vessel Themis entered Belgian waters with French European Union inspectors on board, to inspect a Dutch beam trawler. When the inspector approached the vessel, the skipper ran off the warps from the winches dumping the beam trawls on the sea bed. In a coordinated action, the Dutch inspection vessel Barend Biesheuvel went to the location and, as the captain of the fishing vessel was not willing to be cooperative in bringing the gear above the surface, requested the Dutch coastguard vessel Arca to dredge the net; an operation which lasted two days. In addition, Belgium contributed to the operation, by having their fishing patrol vessel Zeehond dredging and finding the first net.

As a result of the operation, the inspectors found out the utilisation of ‘blinders’, illegal gear attachments which obstruct the mesh opening and reduce the selectivity of the net, contravening Commission Regulation EEC 3440/84. In addition, the skipper of the fishing vessel hindered the inspection by obstructing the control operation.

The value of the fish and both port and starboard trawls were confiscated. The fishing vessel’s skipper will be prosecuted in the Netherlands. This operation has only been possible thanks to the cooperation among the Member States authorities in the framework of the joint deployment plan for the cod in the North Sea.