Two Irish commercial fishermen charged with tampering with satellite transmitters so they could catch fish undetected in Cornish waters will receive their verdicts today.
Trawlermen Mr Eric Murphy and Mr Donal O'Neill appeared in Truro Crown Court earlier this week charged with failure to maintain contact with fishing authorities while at sea in January. Both men pleaded not guilty to six charges.
Mr Sean Brunton, prosecuting on behalf of the British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said the two men had deliberately tampered with transmitters on board their vessels before they trawled for mackerel in a protected zone near Falmouth.
Under EU legislation it is compulsory for fishing vessels to have transmitters on board. They send an automatic hourly signal to fishing authorities with details of the vessel's location.
On three occasions, Mr Murphy and Mr O'Neill unscrewed the antennas to disable the signal before embarking on night-time fishing trips, the court was told.
Mr Murphy, of Dunboy, Castletownbere, Co Cork and Mr O'Neill, of Gour, Castletownbere, Co Cork, were also charged with falsifying official log sheets.
The court heard they did not declare the correct quantity of mackerel - a protected species - caught by the vessels Eilean Croineand Sparkling Starin waters off Falmouth.
Mr Brunton said Mr O'Neill, owner and master of Sparkling Star, declared a catch of 50 tonnes of mackerel. Fishing inspectors later found 95 tonnes on board.
" Sparkling Star'scatch of 100 tonnes - the vast majority of which was mackerel - was worth just under £30,000 (sterling). This is big money, and it is important to play by the rules," he said.
Mr Brunton said the falsified log sheets and blocked satellite transmitters were part of an attempt to fish illegally in a protected zone.
The court will return its ruling this afternoon.
PA