EIR/202500495567 review of 202500491141 · FOI/EIR · released
Marine Scotland suspected fisheries offences: EIR Review
Information requested
Original request: 202500491141
1. Please could you tell me from which date it was the policy of the Marine Directorate (or Marine Scotland) to sell fish or shellfish seized from vessels accused of fisheries offences onto merchants.
2. Please could you provide me with an itemised list of all such seizures from the date provided in response to part one of this request, through to the date at which you begin to process this request. For each seizure, please list the date it took place, the relevant geographic office which carried the seizure out, the species of the catch (for mixed catches please include each species with the corresponding weight seized), whether it was sold on to a merchant and, if it was, what it was valued at. In these cases, please also provide the date at which the Marine Directorate/Marine Scotland received such payment.
Response
Further to my letter of 8 December, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for information regarding catches seized following suspected fisheries offences.
I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted and I enclose a copy of the information you requested in the format you asked for.
As part of my review I have re-examined the searches carried out in response to your original request, and requested additional searches be carried out to confirm if we hold information on seizures and sale of fish. In our original response it was noted that records of seizures were cleared in 2022, however my review has found relevant information that was archived during this 2022 consolidation exercise. On behalf of Scottish Government I would like to apologise for this oversight and assure you I have reported back my findings to the relevant business area so they can take steps to avoid a recurrence.
Below is a table setting out the information found, which is also attached to this response as a .csv file as you requested.
Date on invoice Species & weight Amount invoiced Invoice no. Area office Reimbursed? If so, date and inv no 10-Oct-14 Saithe 100 boxes 3,554.00 86009307 Peterhead 10-Oct-14 Saithe 42 boxes 1,553.00 86009308 Peterhead Reimbursed: 23-JUL-15 Refund - Invoice 86009308 13-Nov-14 Spotted ray 309.4kg Cuckoo ray 44.2kg 370.00 86009486 Peterhead 19-Nov-14 Skate 544.11kg 184.00 86009527 Fraserburgh 15-Jan-15 Haddock 15510kg 26,886.50 86009851 Peterhead Reimbursed: 06-SEP-16 Invoice #W/C - 053 15-Jan-15 Haddock 12586kg 20,094.00 86009852 Peterhead Reimbursed: 06-SEP-16 Invoice #W/C - 053 22-Jan-15 Scallops 5440kg 8,495.00 86009922 Campbeltwon Reimbursed: 31-MAY-16 Invoice #W/C - 021 22-Jan-15 907.57 86009923 Scrabster 22-Jan-15 940.00 86009921 Scrabster Reimbursed: 26-FEB-16 Invoice #86010269 16-Feb-15 3,916.25 86010145 Ullapool Reimbursed: 17-JAN-17 Invoice #W/C-093 03-Aug-15 Razor clam 1,835.00 86011582 Ayr 03-Aug-15 Razor clam 481kg 1,674.50 86011583 Ayr 10-Sep-15 Razor clam 381kg 1,524.00 86011900 Likely Ayr, but unable to confirm 16-Sep-15 Hake, Skate, Spotted/Cuckoo Ray 1104.65kg 1,339.14 86011904 Peterhead Reimbursed: 14-JUN-17 invoice #W/C-030 26-Nov-15 King scallops 708kg 1,486.80 86012522 Portree Reimbursed: 30-MAR-16 Refund - Invoice 86012522 31-Dec-15 154.48 Receipt - 011 Not Known 08-Mar-16 Razor clam 95kg 351.00 86013239 Ayr 09-Oct-17 57.00 5011947 Not Known 04-Dec-17 Whiting 360.3kg 360.00 86018929 Peterhead 18-Dec-17 Turbot 13.65kg 70.00 86019110 Peterhead 13-Nov-18 -2585.00 Worthy cause 076 Likely Ayr, but unable to confirm Reimbursement
You will note that the 2024 example you cited in your correspondence, (source: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-32420) is not included in the information set out above.
As part of my review I have looked at the Parliamentary Question and Answer, which related to a conviction in October 2024 of a scallop diving vessel. It seems some confusion may have arisen from the following part of the question: “[…] how many scallops were removed as a result of the offence, and what happened to them;”. This somewhat ambiguous phrasing could be interpreted to refer to a seizure, but it could also relate to the removal of the scallops by the vessel from the South Arran Marine Protected Area during the offence.
I contacted the relevant officials to clarify whether a seizure under the powers of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 took place in this case. They confirmed no seizure of the catch had taken place. An attempt was made to seize the funds resulting from the offense, but the buyer had already paid the owner of the vessel. The estimated value of the catch was then reflected in the value of the Fixed Penalty Notice, namely £6000 on top of the £4000 for the “access offense”. The FPN was issued to the master of the vessel. The merchant subsequently provided evidence to Marine Directorate to confirm the final value of the catch and the amount paid to the owner of the vessel, which was £4548.50.
Seizure and sale on behalf of Scottish Ministers of a fishers catch may only occur in limited circumstances. This is mainly where the catch can be attributed to the specific offence and where the offence has been identified prior to a sale having taken place. In addition, unless the value of the catch is subsequently forfeited by the sheriff in court following a conviction, any seized value would be returned to the owner(s) of the vessel. In practice, recovery of the value of the catch can be attempted within a fixed penalty notice, as was the case referenced above. As ultimately no catch was seized under the regulations noted, the information was not included in response to your request.
I hope you find the above information helpful, but if you are unhappy with the outcome of this review you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner about our decision within 6 months of receiving this letter.
Information on how to make an appeal, along with an application form, is available on the Commissioner’s website at:
https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse/AppealingtoCommissioner.aspx.
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