A member of the South Western Regional Fisheries Board was convicted yesterday of salmon-poaching offences in a sanctuary in front of his house.
John O'Shea, Cleanderry, Ardgroom, Beara, a representative of the driftnet sector on the fisheries board, was found to have used nets to catch 12 salmon on July 9th, 2002, in the tidal waters at Cleanderry Harbour on the Kenmare river.
Castletownbere District Court heard that O'Shea had a Cork licence but was fishing in a Kerry area. Mr Vincent Coakley, solicitor for the SWRFB said O'Shea had no previous convictions.
Mr Colm Murphy, defending, said his client was a licensed fisherman and was well under the quota that year.
The area in question was in front of his house, and it had been opened to commercial salmon fishing in the mid-1980s. There was a chance it would open again in one or two years.
His client was in court "because of the farcical situation" of the fisheries Acts which forced O'Shea to travel five hours to the next bay, Bantry Bay, where he was licensed to fish.
"He is entitled to fish for salmon with the nets he was using, but he was simply not in the right place," Mr Murphy said.
The case had been adjourned from a previous sitting of the court to allow Judge James O'Connor to consider case law with regard to pre-trial publication.
At a previous sitting, Mr Murphy argued that newspaper articles taken together prejudiced his client.
Judge James O'Connor said that the articles in the Kerryman newspaper, which had not named O'Shea, and the Sunday Mirror, which had named him, might hold some weight before a jury but were not prejudicial in a District Court.
"While one reads papers, one doesn't believe every single word [in them]," Judge O' Connor said.
He granted the board the forfeiture of the salmon and the nets, convicted O'Shea on three charges and fined him a total of €300 plus costs of €624.
O'Shea had tendered his resignation from the fisheries board at a meeting in Macroom on Tuesday night.
Asked to comment, Mr Aidan Barry, chief executive of the board, said anyone convicted of a fisheries offence automatically lost his or her seat on the 22-member board.
"The structure and this board work without fear or favour. It is up to the courts to decide," Mr Barry said.