Fisherman breaches Prohibition Notice

At a hearing today at Weymouth Magistrates Court, the Owner/Skipper of a fishing vessel was fined a total of £500 plus costs of £1000 plus a victim impact surcharge of £50 after pleading guilty to breaches of maritime safety legislation.

The Freya May is a small wooden fishing vessel which is 6.5m in length and is owned and skippered by Luke Copperthwaite.  The vessel had been inspected in late 2012 by a surveyor from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) when some defects were noted. The defects included lack of safety training and radio certificates plus structural problems with the wheelhouse. Although some of the defects were subsequently cleared, the MCA was not notified.

The vessel inspection certificate subsequently expired.   Attempts to contact Mr Copperthwaite brought no response. Eventually a Prohibition Notice was issued stopping the Freya May from sailing as a commercial fishing vessel.  Again no response was received so the matter was passed to the MCA Enforcement Unit for further action.
Mr Copperthwaite was finally interviewed in October 2013 when he admitted that he had not done the required courses and that the boat was now out of the water as he was working ashore. 

The Freya May was subsequently seen working at sea with Mr Copperthwaite on several occasions.  It was also observed that the vessel fishing numbers had become unreadable.  Attempts to contact Mr Copperthwaite did not evoke a response.

Luke Copperthwaite aged 33 from Portland, Dorset pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of a Prohibition Notice, failing to comply with the under 10m code of practice and allowing his fishing numbers to become unreadable.  Mr Copperthwaite was fined £500 plus a victim impact surcharge of £50 and costs of £1000 were awarded against him.

In passing sentence the Chairman of the Bench stated: Mr Copperthwaite bought this matter down on his own head.

Amir Esmiley, Area Operations Manager at the Southampton Marine Office of the MCA said:
“Prohibition Notices are issued to ensure safety at sea and stop unsafe acts.  They should not be ignored in the hope they will go away.”

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