Gear could stretch from Blaskets to Aran Islands

"NOT unduly high fines, but it does indicate the value of the fish out there." Such was the reaction of the Irish Fishermen's Organisation yesterday to the £800,000 in penalties imposed on two Japanese tuna skippers for fishing illegally in Irish waters over two months ago.

The basic £30,000 fines imposed on each vessel are standard for such offences, according to the Department of the Marine, but the additional estimation of £600,000 worth of catch on one of the ships, the Shaoshin Maru, is intended to reflect the value of the bluefin tuna on board.

Following its detention by the LE Deirdre on August 22nd some 190 miles west of Galway, the Shaoshin Maru had to lodge a bond of almost £1 million, the largest such sum in an Irish fishery ease to date. The sum was intended to cover the 80 tons of tuna and gear on board, together with possible fines and costs to the State.

Both skippers had originally denied the charges, but yesterday pleaded guilty in Cork Circuit Criminal Court, when it was also stated that they were full of remorse" and the offence would not be repeated.

The two arrests with in a week by the LE Aisling and LE Deirdre, in co operation with the Air Corps, highlighted the potential of the lucrative bluefin tuna fishery within the 200 mile Irish limit and the lengths to which one of the world's largest fishing nations would go in pursuit. The gear on the first vessel, the Minato Maru, was estimated at 70 nautical miles, enough to stretch from the Blaskets to the Aran Islands.

The eases also highlighted the international pressure on fish stocks and the need to give the Naval Service more resources to carry out fishery patrols, in addition to drug duties. Some 30 Japanese vessels were reported to be working close to the 200 mile limit at the time.

Having begun as law enforcement, the Naval Service quickly found itself taking on a humanitarian role when five crewmen or a third Japanese vessel, the Taisei Maru, were killed in a gas leak some 240 miles off the Irish coast.

The LE Aisling, which had recorded the first arrest, assisted the vessel when it lost power.