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Lymington commissioner fined for fishing offences
01 Oct 2007
SOUTH COAST: The chairman of the Lymington Harbour Commissioners has been fined more than £50,000 for not complying with fishing laws, writes Ian Sutherland.
Graham Butler, 61, pleaded guilty to 16 offences of failing to complete and submit records of the shellfish he had caught off the coast of Hampshire.
He also asked for a further 74 offences of the same nature to be taken into consideration at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court last month morning. The Marine Fisheries Agency monitored Butler, who had previously submitted a logbook entry to the agency in Greek, over eight months in 2006.
The logbooks enable the agency to keep track of fish stocks and possible endangered species.
District judge Ann Arnold said Butler, of Gosport Street, Lymington, had shown a ‘flagrant disregard’ for fishing laws and fined him a total of £50,013.50.
