A SPANISH skipper escaped a hefty fine and confiscation of his catch and fishing gear after the Naval boarding party failed to fly the correct flag on their dinghy.
This was the first case taken in this State under new EU fishing regulations but Judge A. G. Murphy, after hearing legal argument, instructed the jury to find the skipper, Mr Angel Eugino Fernandez Martinez, not guilty of failing to keep a proper log book because there was "an incurable flaw in the State's case".
Cork Circuit Court heard how the Atlantic B was boarded on January 22nd last shortly after 8 a.m. when the LE Eithne came on the fishing vessel inside Irish fishing waters.
Mr Rory Conway, solicitor for the Spanish skipper, told the court the procedure followed before the boarding was in conflict with European law, because, although the LE Eithne displayed both the SQ3 flag and the fishery pennant compulsory under international law, the dinghy dispatched to board the vessel did not.