A FRENCH boat owner and his skipper who fished illegally in Jersey waters have been fined £2,250 between them at the Magistrate’s Court.
The pair could have been fined up to £20,000 each, but it was accepted that they had been ignorant of the law and had not deliberately flouted the Bay of Granville Treaty which regulates fishing in the area. Sandrine Cardin (39), who owned the boat, said that she was in financial crisis and would rather do a stint in prison than pay a hefty fine. Skipper Christophe Jean Yves Bourdet (32) said that he had been in charge of the boat for only a week and had followed other French fishermen into Jersey waters. They had permits to fish legally in that stretch of territory, but his boat, Ma Loute, did not. Officers from Jersey Fisheries on a routine patrol had noticed nine lines of pots in the territory. Some had markers which indicated that they had been laid from Ma Loute. After making inquiries, the officers discovered that the vessel did not have a permit to fish in the stretch of water in which it had laid pots.
Article posted on 11th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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