News story: Merchant ordered to pay £4,700 for buying fish while unregistered

Representatives of Dockside Ltd, a company that owns a wet fish shop in Fleetwood, Lancashire, were ordered to pay £4,715.27 by Blackpool Magistrates Court on 26 July 2017.

The company pleaded guilty to purchasing first-sale fish directly from a fishing boat other than as a registered buyer, contrary to regulation 8 of the Registration of Fish Buyers and Sellers and Designation of Fish Auction Sites Regulations 2005.

The court heard how the Marine Management Organisation acted after being made aware the company had been purchasing fish from a number of vessels without being a registered buyer with the MMO. Upon investigation marine officers found the company had purchased £18,487 of fish between April 2014 and September 2016 while being an unregistered buyer of first-sale fish.

The company was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay an additional £2,545.27 in costs and a victim surcharge of £170.

The Registered Buyers and Sellers Scheme is designed to help ensure that fish is traceable from net to plate and to monitor and protect fish stocks. The MMO has produced a guide on the regulations for buying and selling fish.