Men cleared of having illegal fish net

A father and son were yesterday cleared of a charge relating to having a drift net for illegal fishing.

Drift nets were outlawed in 2006 under the Fisheries Act to safeguard and conserve salmon and trout stocks.

Cases against Anthony Sheehy, his company Knollway Ltd, and son Ronan Sheehy stemmed from the discovery of a net aboard a small registered fishing boat, Shore Creeper, in a cove at Trafrask near Baltimore in July 2011.

A number of Inland Fisheries Ireland officers, aboard two rigid inflatables, confiscated an 820m net from the 18ft trawler on which Ronan Sheehy was operator.

At Skibbereen District Court, five of the officers testified before Judge James McNulty yesterday that they formed the opinion it was a drift net due to the close proximity of more than 400 floats and the fact there were no weights attached.

A small number of fish scales had been found aboard the boat, which officers said was almost spotless. Seven out of eight samples were found to be salmonid.

Both men, with an address in Baltimore, insisted it was a gill net for pollack fishing, and said there were off-cuts of chain links and an anchor were on board to be used as weights to sink the net.

Anthony Sheehy represents the Irish South West and Fish Producers Organisation on the 14-member consultative committee of the state-run Sea Fisheries Protection Authority.

Ronan Sheehy, who holds a master’s degree in integrated coastal zone management, told the court he had been an employee of BIM.

Solicitor Liam O’Donovan, for the accused, impressed upon the court the apparent lack of practices, procedures, and protocols used by Inland Fishery patrols in relation to the safeguarding of vital evidence and net confiscation.

Former department of marine official and ex-sea fisheries protection officer Kevin Flannery said the type of net seized could be used for up to 25 different fish species under EU rules.

Judge McNulty said that despite the opinions of the fishery officers, the prosecution had not sufficiently produced evidence of use or intention of use of the net and had not proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.