This Is Jersey

A JERSEY fisherman has been acquitted of illegal fishing in Sark waters.

Sark Seneschal Reg Guille found Donald Arthur Thompson (49), of Rue Carré, St Brelade, not guilty after an all-day hearing - almost exactly one year after his vessel was seen by Guernsey sea fisheries officers in Sark waters.Mr Thompson said yesterday that the case had cost him several thousand pounds, but he had felt that he had to fight it on behalf of all Jersey fishermen.’We feel that Guernsey have been placing a lot of hindrances in front of us,’ he said.

‘We just want to go out and fish in the area where we have always been able to fish and not be persecuted.

This is a little bit of a victory for Jersey fishermen.’Mr Thompson added that it would have cost him much less to have pleaded guilty, even though he knew he was innocent.’I'd have every right to feel bitter, but that’s not how I feel.

I just needed to do it for all Jersey fishermen,’ he said.The case, as outlined by Crown Advocate Philip Robey, hinged on whether two officers on board the Guernsey Sea Fisheries Department’s vessel Leopardess saw Thompson’s Jersey-registered fishing boat actually fishing when they spotted it just over a mile to the south of Sark on 1 April last year.Senior fisheries officer Jonathan Torode told the court that at the time they saw Thompson’s boat on radar they were escorting two French vessels back to St Peter Port.Sea conditions were rough, said the officer, and because only he and one colleague were on board - three others were on the two French boats and in a rigid inflatable - he considered it unsafe to attempt to board.He said that he got to between 200 and 400 metres and saw that lines leading to the trawl net were tight and the trawl doors were just breaking the surface, as was the net itself.He agreed with defence counsel Advocate Gordon Dawes that he had seen no fish because he was not close enough to the fishing boat.Mr Torode also confirmed that when he spoke to fishing boat crew member Simon Furness on the radio, Mr Furness had said immediately that they were not fishing but had a problem with the hydraulics and invited the officers on board.Acquitting Thompson of illegally trawling within Sark’s three-mile limit, the Seneschal said that he had no doubt that the vessel had been correctly identified as that belonging to the defendant and that it had been within Sark’s waters.He said that an empty trawl net was not evidence that the vessel had not been fishing and he added that had the two officers on board the Leopardess seen the net with its ends closed he would have had no doubt that fishing had taken place.However, he went on to say that because of Mr Furness’s immediate response when radio contact was made that they were not fishing but had a problem with the vessel’s hydraulics, coupled with the invitation to come on board, he was going to acquit the defendant.The Seneschal rejected an application by Advocate Dawes for costs.

Article posted on 27th March, 2004 - 12.00am