TWO Japanese tuna fishing skippers were penalised almost £800,000 at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, when they admitted fishing illegally in Irish territorial water's last August.
In the first case involving Japanese fishing vessels to come before the Irish courts, Kenji Oda, master of the Shaoshin Maru, and Tsukasa Nagasawa, master of the Minato Maru, pleaded guilty to charges of illegal fishing inside the Irish limits, before Judge A.G. Murphy.
Oda had fish valued at £600,000, fish bait worth £22,500 and gear valued at £25,650 confiscated by the court and he was also fined £30,000, with agreed costs of £3,750.
A similar fine and costs were imposed on Nagasawa, who had tuna worth £60,000, gear valued at £27,327 and fish bait worth £31,875 confiscated by the court.
Mr Don McCarthy, for the State, said the Shaoshin Maru was boarded by the Naval Service on August 22nd after it was observed fishing about 10 miles inside Irish limits. The skipper indicated to them where his fishing lines were located and hauled them in. Only three were inside the actual limit.
The second vessel was spotted by the Air Corps and was boarded by the Naval Service on August 21st. This captain also showed personnel where his lines were located, 20 miles inside the limit.
Mr McCarthy said that the level of courtesy and co operation extended by both men to the Naval Service had never before been experienced by personnel investigating similar offences on other foreign vessels.
He said the fish found was not of varieties that would normally be eaten in Ireland or indeed in Europe but it had a high commercial value in Japan.
Mr Rory Conway, defending said this was the first offence of its kind to come before the Irish courts and the degree to which the Shaoshin Maru, was inside the limits was very small. However it was an absolute offence and it was admitted.
The consequences were "horrifically high" considering the value of the catch and gear that were confiscated. A cash bond of £900,000 had been lodged in court because of the problems with currency and language.
Mr Conway said the owners of the ships had travelled to court in order to extend to it the courtesy of being present and he had been asked to apologise on their behalf for what had happened. They were full of remorse and the offence would not be repeated.
The Tuna Fishermen's Society in Japan had instructed the owners of the vessels that these events were not to be repeated, They would also receive additional penalties; on returning to Japan, the ships faced a six week anchorage penalty, effectively depriving them of a ninth of the fishing season, he said.
On being told that fishing offences had dropped, Judge Murphy said it was probably because the attitude taken by the courts has been noticed and if the news permeated to Japan it would be better still.
When asked by Mr Conway to consider reducing the fines imposed, the judge said the size of the Japanese vessels intruding in Irish waters posed an even greater threat to Irish fish stocks and the penalties imposed had to reflect this.