Arnaud Delalonde (46) and Tony Mesnage (43), from Cherbourg, pulled up almost ten tonnes of the highly prized shellfish inside the three-mile limit from Jersey’s shores which is reserved for local fishermen.
But their secret evening and night-time raids on Island fish stocks came to an end in November 2014 when Delalonde’s vessel, Pescadore, was boarded by fisheries protection officers during a stealth operation after being monitored using state-of-the-art tracking technology.
During the subsequent investigation it was found that Mesnage, who was not present on the night of the fisheries operation, had also been dredging illegally.
Delalonde was fined £18,000 and Mesnage, who was convicted in the Magistrate’s Court in 2009 for a similar offence, was ordered to pay £8,000.
Outlining the case in the Royal Court, Crown Advocate David Hopwood, prosecuting, said that the pair knowingly dredged inside the three-mile zone in Jersey waters on several occasions over a nine-month period in 2014. In that time the pair caught scallops worth almost £20,000.
The court heard that in an effort to cover up their tracks the pair fraudulently doctored their location declarations to say they were in a legal zone.
Advocate Hopwood said the pair would often fish on the border of the three-mile zone and then sneak into it ‘under the cover of darkness’.
He added: ‘Unlicensed dredging carries with it the risk of damage to habitats and to the livelihoods of Jersey fishermen and ultimately the food security of this Island.
‘In this case the defendants were unknowingly dredging very close to maerl beds which are a protected conservation area within the three-mile limit from which even Jersey boats are excluded.’
Advocate Hopwood also praised the ‘guile and seamanship’ of the fisheries officers who managed to approach and board Delalonde’s vessel on the evening of 4 November 2014, whilst it was towing fishing gear, without being detected.
‘They confronted Mr Delalonde in his wheelhouse to his evident surprise,’ he added.
Delalonde pleaded guilty to 12 counts and Mesnage admitted eight counts of breaching sea fisheries regulations.
The defendants, who declined legal representation, did not apologise in court for their actions when asked by Bailiff William Bailhache.
However Mr Bailhache praised them for appearing in court voluntarily. A third defendant, Chantal Texier (59), the owner of Mesnage’s vessel, Saltimbanque, did not appear.
Delivering the court’s sentence Mr Bailhache said: ‘The restrictions are made to ensure that fishing stocks survive and are there for future generations. In parts dredging for scallops is destructive of marine habitats and there are real risks when fishermen do dredge in areas that they are not permitted to do so.’
According to the most recent statistics Jersey’s fleet of six licensed scallop dredgers take between 125 to 195 tonnes of scallops within the three-mile limit every year.
Jurats Jerry Ramsden and Anthony Olsen were sitting on the case.
