Mayo fishermen in court for breaching mackerel fishing regulations

Two fishermen have been ordered to make donations to the Ballyglass RNLI after they admitted fishing for mackerel without official authorisation.

Martin O’Donnell (61) of The Shore, Porturlin, and Jonathon O’Donnell (38) of Porturlin both appeared before Belmullet District Court charged with breaching regulations regarding the fishing of mackerel off the Erris coast.

Martin O’Donnell pleaded guilty to fishing mackerel without authorisation on May 10, 2022, while Jonathon O’Donnell also pleaded guilty to the same offence on the same day on a separate boat. Jonathon O’Donnell also pleaded guilty to failing to submit a log of his catch on two separate days – May 13, 2022 and May 17, 2022.

The prosecutions were brought on behalf of the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), an independent statutory body responsible for the regulation of the sea-fisheries and the seafood production sectors.

The court heard that both fishermen had licences to fish mackerel but under regulations brought in in 2020 to protect mackerel stocks, fishermen must now have an authorisation before they can go out fishing. The two defendants said they were not aware of this authorisation and immediately remedied the situation when the rule was brought to their attention.

Catch logged

In the prosecution against Martin O’Donnell, Sea Fisheries Protection Officer, Martin Daly explained that while conducting a desktop referral he noted that the defendant had caught €1,823 worth of mackerel on May 10 and May 18, 2022.

Mr O’Donnell was interviewed on September 14, 2022 and admitted catching the mackerel on those two separate dates. Mr Daly said that the defendant was co-operative and had no previous convictions.

When questioned by Michael Bohan, solicitor for Mr O’Donnell, the witness accepted that Mr O’Donnell had a licence to fish mackerel but did not have authorisation to do so. He added that he did not visit Porturlin Pier on the date but the catch was recorded by Mr O’Donnell and it was on the computer system.

Mr Bohan said his client did not know of the need for authorisation to fish for mackerel and once he was made aware, he applied for it on May 17 and was granted authorisation that day.

Mr Bohan explained that each catch has to be logged by the fisherman and also by the wholesalers when it is sold and that Mr O’Donnell’s records coincided with that of the wholesaler. Mr Daly agreed there were no issues with what was recorded in the catch.

Mr Bohan accepted that ignorance of the law is not an excuse but his client was genuine. He commented that six or seven boats hold 98 percent of the mackerel quota in Ireland and subsidence fishermen like his client have 2 percent of the quota. Mr O’Donnell, he said, has fished since he was 12 years old and has no previous convictions for similar offences and asked the court to be lenient.

Judge Lydon said she was prepared to strike out the charge if Mr O’Donnell made a €500 donation to the Ballyglass lifeboat.

‘Dropped the ball’

The prosecution against Jonathon O’Donnell heard evidence from Seán Ivery, a sea fishery officer with the SFPA who visited Porturlin Pier on May 10, 2022, and inspected Mr O’Donnell’s fishing vessel.

He explained Jonathon O’Donnell had a catch of 3,246kg, which has a value in excess of €3,000. He did not have authorisation to fish mackerel.

Mr Ivery said that when a catch is made there is an obligation on the fisherman to log the catch within 48 hours. He said this was not done on May 10 or on May 13, 17 and 29. It was eventually logged on July 1.

He explained that the requirement to log catches with the SFPA is to ensure that the data for catches are with the European Commission in a timely manner to monitor mackerel stocks.

Mr Ivery said the defendant was fully co-operative and has no previous convictions.

Mr Dermot Connolly, solicitor for Jonathon O’Donnell, said his client was unaware of the need for authorisation to fish for mackerel and once he found out he applied for one the following day and received authorisation.

With regard to the failure to log his catch in time, Mr Connolly admitted his client ‘dropped the ball’ in this regard and he should have filled out the paperwork.

He said his client has been fishing since he was 16 and was fully so-operative with the SFPA officer on the day. He added his client is married with four children and asked Judge Lydon to be as lenient as possible.

Judge Lydon said that taking into account the lack of previous convictions and the fact he remedied the situation she was prepared to strike out the charge of failing to log his catch of May 14 if Mr O’Donnell makes a €3,000 to the local Ballyglass RNLI. The other charges she said would be taken into account.