An English fishing company has been fined £20,000 for catching undersized whelks in Manx waters.

B & M Fishing Llp, whose address is Siding Road, Fleetwood, Lancashire, did not have a representative in court, but had authorised advocate Jim Travers to act on their behalf.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes gave the company three months to pay the fine, plus prosecution costs of £125.

We previously reported that, on November 22 at 3.30pm, fisheries officers were on patrol off the west coast of the island when they saw the fishing boat Julia Ann (FD5).

They boarded the vessel to inspect their catch and found that a number of whelks were under the permitted size limit of 75 millimetres.

The vessel was taken to Douglas for a full inspection to take place.

Once there, 43 sacks of whelks were inspected.

Of 21,513 whelks caught, 4,188 of them were found to be under the minimum limit of 75mm.

We also previously reported that the master of the vessel, Dinars Lugan, from Lincoln, was fined £35,000 in relation to this incident in November.

During an interview, the owner of the boat, Andrew Bynam, said that the crew had been rushing the riddling process, which separates out the whelks which are undersized.

He said that they had not been instructed to keep undersized whelks and had each signed a written commitment notice, which demonstrated the company’s professionalism.

Officers from the Department of Food and Agriculture were also in court on Tuesday.

Defence advocate Mr Travers had previously entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company.

Mr Travers asked for credit to be given for the guilty plea and the co-operation of the company, who he said had promptly paid Mr Lugan’s £35,000 fine in full for him, so essentially they would be receiving a double penalty.

The advocate said that the company had paid Lugan’s fine because if they placed the onus on vessel skippers to pay such fines, they would never get any staff.

‘For some reason the process was being rushed,’ said Mr Travers.

‘It was essentially the rogue actions of the employee.’

He added that B & M Fishing Llp had been described as a professional outfit by DEFA and that they took their responsibilities seriously.

The case was previously adjourned so that financial information on the company could be provided, so that the court could assess the appropriate level of fine, and this was handed in by Mr Travers.

High Bailiff Mrs Hughes said that it would have been more appropriate if the company and skipper had been dealt with at the same time.