A Dublin skipper has been fined €10,000 after pleading guilty to several fisheries offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) said fishing master Rory Wilde, with an address in Co Dublin, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of failing to retain catches of fish subject to quotas and the landing obligation onboard the Irish sea-fishing boat Mary Paul.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge relating to the use of a net with a below-minimum mesh size during the fishing operation.
The court heard evidence on 6 November that the Mary Paul was boarded by an SFPA officer and EU inspectors attached to the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) patrol vessel Ocean Guardian in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone, in the area of the Porcupine Bank, on 24 April 2024.
Officers boarded the vessel and inspected operations onboard and the nets in use.
An officer gave evidence that crew members were observed systematically discarding catches of dead fish, including megrims, blue whiting and monkfish, which are subject to quotas, through a hatch from a sorting table back into the sea, the SFPA said.
Evidence was given that only Nephrops norvegicus (Dublin Bay prawns) were retained onboard. However, there was no record of any discards made during the fishing trip up to that point. Only Nephrops and certain monkfish had been recorded.
The court heard that three of the four nets inspected were compliant, but the average mesh size of a square mesh panel in the fourth net was below the minimum legal size of 300 mm required for that particular fishing operation.
An officer told the court that the declared value of the Nephrops onboard was approximately €116,000, based on the sales note.
Evidence was given that the EU landing obligation, introduced in 2013 and fully phased in by 2019, generally requires catches of species subject to catch limits to be retained, recorded and counted against quota, subject to applicable exemptions.
An officer gave evidence that the previous practice of discarding juvenile stocks was destructive and significantly distorted catch data.
The court was informed that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) uses industry catch figures in assessing fish biomass, and that unrecorded discards can distort the data and lead to inaccurate scientific advice on quotas.
The court also heard that the square mesh panel acts like an “escape hatch”, allowing smaller fish to escape as the net is hauled.
The court convicted Mr Wilde and imposed fines totalling €10,000, with six months to pay. In giving its decision, the court remarked that the landing of bycatches is a cornerstone of the Common Fisheries Policy and accurate stock assessment, “which is a vital concern to us all for the preservation of fish stocks in our seas”, according to the SFPA.
The SFPA commended the officers and inspectors involved in the investigation.
In a separate case reported by Afloat in June 2025, a French-registered vessel's skipper was fined for breaching landing obligation rules following an inspection involving Ocean Guardian.
Afloat also reported another landing obligation conviction in November 2025.
