“Modern gangsters of the sea” must be brought to book – Carmichael speaks in fishing debate

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has called for the “modern gangsters of the sea” – fishing vessels putting others at risk with aggressive actions – to be tackled more effectively by marine enforcement officials, during a debate on the fishing industry in Parliament. 

Leading the debate on Thursday afternoon, Mr Carmichael highlighted the notorious examples of the Pesorsa Dos and the Antonio Maria which engaged in dangerous behaviour towards local fishing vessels in the waters around Shetland in recent years, and noted the success of Irish authorities in targeting the Pesorsa Dos for enforcement more recently.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Carmichael said:

“Sooner or later, if such behaviour is allowed to continue, somebody will end up with a boat at the bottom of the sea. Representations need to be made to the relevant authorities in Germany and France. Some effort has been made by Ministers at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Transport, but more needs to be done. We simply cannot leave our fishing industry unprotected in this way.

“The position with the Pesorsa Dos is interesting because it was fishing not just in UK waters but around Ireland’s. The Irish authorities took an approach rather different from the hands-off attitude of Marine Scotland and the Marine and Coastguard Agency, and took the Pesorsa Dos into port, where she was held for some considerable time. Of course, if she is in port, she is not out earning money for her owners. They threw the book at the Pesorsa Dos and its skipper.

“The Irish enforcement agents, when they were climbing on board, found that the ladder provided for them broke. That meant an immediate €10,000 fine for failing to provide safe access. The matter recently finished in the Irish courts with a series of fines and the forfeiture of gear worth £470,000. I suspect that will concentrate the minds of the owners and skippers of that boat better than the hand-wringing and legalism we have in this country. A bit more of that sort of enforcement would be enormously welcome.

“We all know that Al Capone was eventually done for tax evasion. Let us hope that the modern gangsters of the sea might be brought to book in a similar way, if not necessarily for the misdeeds themselves.”