A fishing boat captain from Northern Ireland has been fined £26,000 for illegally fishing in Manx waters.

Christopher Heslip, of Mountain Road, Kilkeel, pleaded guilty in court to an unlicensed fishing charge.

As Heslip is not an island resident, Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes ruled that he must pay the fine forthwith.

Prosecutor James Robinson told the court how data from the 'Highland Queen' showed that 54-year-old skipper Heslip had exceeded the queens scallop catch quota, fished outside of a curfew and also fished on a Saturday, which is prohibited.

Data showed that for the week of August 22 to August 28 the 'Highland Queen' had been fishing 10 miles south of Port St Mary and south of Chicken Rock.

During that week Heslip landed 11,908 kilos of queen scallops. The legal weekly limit a boat is allowed to catch is 4,200 kilos so that limit had been exceeded by 7,708 kilos.

On Saturday, September 10, records showed that the 'Highland Queen' had also been out fishing, south of Chicken Rock, operating between 4.47am and 5.57pm. Queen scallop fishing is not permitted at weekends.

During that week in September Heslip’s vessel landed 10,231 kilos of queen scallops, 6.031 kilos above the 4,200 kilo weekly limit.

That brought the total weight of queen scallops caught illegally to 13,739 kilos, said to have a value of £13,052. Heslip, a fishing boat skipper for 23 years, was also said to have fished outside of curfew hours.

Defending Heslip advocate Winston Taylor said that his client’s plotter, which tells him where the vessel is, was not working, so he had relied on radar which was not as accurate.

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said while passing sentence: 'You are an experienced skipper and knew radar wasn’t accurate. You shouldn’t have been fishing so close to the limit and you knew very well that you shouldn’t have been fishing out of curfew hours and on a Saturday. You should have stopped as soon as the plotter stopped working.

'The Attorney General’s office chose to treat his as one offence, it could have been at least three, if not more. You rode roughshod over rules for your own profit. The conditions are put there to protect the fishing stock of the Isle of Man.’

In a DEFA statement issued afterwards minister Geoffrey Boot MHK said: 'The queen scallop fishery is worth millions of pounds to the island’s economy and supports hundreds of jobs.

’This skipper was one of very few eligible to fish this restricted fishery and he demonstrated blatant disregard for the island’s conservation measures.

'My department employs a range of management measures to support the long term sustainability of stocks, which have been in decline.

'We police our waters vigilantly and do not hesitate to apprehend those breaking the law.

'I hope this prosecution and the size of the fine tells fishermen how seriously the island views breaches of the law.'

Manx territorial waters extend out to 12 miles around the island’s coastline and contain a number of restricted zones.