The skipper and owner of a fishing boat have been fined £10,000 each for illegal fishing activity.

Craig Robinson, of Cummertrees, Annan, Dumfriesshire, who was the skipper of the Azula (BA70), and George Anthony Finley, of Ross Farm, Kirkcubright, who is the owner of the vessel, both admitted a sea fishing licence offence.

Finley was also ordered to pay £5,984 in compensation to DEFA in relation to the boat’s illegal catch of king scallops.

Prosecutor Barry Swain told the court how, on April 9, DEFA received information that the Azula had been fishing in Manx waters during curfew hours between 6pm and 6am.

In August 2017 new fishing licences were issued to various vessels allowing them to fish for King Scallops in Isle of Man territorial waters.

Although the Azula was issued with a licence, no vessels are allowed to fish during the curfew hours.

Robinson, who is 35, admitted to DEFA that he knew he had been in Manx waters during the curfew hours but said he only became aware when he was told afterwards by a third party.

A Vessel Monitoring System which is linked to all fishing boats showed that the Azula had been 1.8 nautical miles inside Manx waters.

The illegal catch was said to be 77 26kg bags of king scallops with a value of £5,984.

Finley, who is 62, attended a meeting with DEFA and said that Robinson had been a skipper for him for five months.

He said that he had employed him on the recommendation of another of his skippers but had not checked his ability to interpret a chart detailing which areas were closed and which were open.

It was said that the boat’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) which helped track vessels and avoid collision with other boats had been turned off.

Finley said that his was common practice all over Britain because crews did not want other crews to know if they had found a good area to fish.

Finley told DEFA officials: ’I didn’t tell him to go out and break the law. He was working with six other boats and the others left. Why he didn’t is beyond me.’

Defending both men in court advocate Matthew Wilshaw said: ’Mr Robinson is a relatively inexperienced skipper as far as fishing in Manx waters goes. We have heard the AIS was switched off try to make sure someone doesn’t swoop in and fish in an area that’s good for fishing.

’It was not an attempt to evade authorities, it was an attempt to get one up on the competition.

’Mr Finley has not sought to push the blame onto Mr Robinson.

’He will pay a heavy price for Mr Robinson’s activities today.’