£6k fine for shellfish processing company caught with undersized lobsters

Follows routine inspection by Fisheries Officers in February

A shellfish processing company has been fined £6,000 after accepting undersized lobsters which were caught in Manx waters.

Island Shellfish Processing Limited, based in Port St Mary, was sentenced at Douglas Courthouse after previously admitting the offence.

Fisheries officers from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture found the animals after visiting the factory for a routine inspection on 6 February.

They found 51 undersized crustaceans in a tank which specifically housed smaller lobsters which were awaiting processing.

The designated minimum landing size for European lobsters in Manx waters is 90mm (carapace length).

The Isle of Man Government website states that the limit is set 'to ensure that most lobsters have spawned at least once before they can be taken. 

'[It] is perhaps the most important conservation measure that we have in place to protect our stocks. 

'Any undersized lobster must be returned to the water immediately on capture and cannot be retained for measuring later.'

Of the 51 found in the tank; four were 86mm, 16 were 87mm, 20 were 88mm and 11 were 89mm.

They were all successfully returned to the sea by fisheries officers.

The court heard that Island Shellfish Processing Limited 'takes in the catches of three or four vessels' and that the lobsters in question 'hadn't been measured yet'.

The company's advocate Steve Wood said it has been 'a victim of both Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis' as it has seen a marked drop in profitability.

He told the court the company has been forced to lay-off staff and as a result has lost the staff who would have been checking deliveries on the door.

Instead, they are now accepted and measured at a later date, when they are to be processed and packaged.

Mr Wood added: "Mistakenly, perhaps, the business has put a high degree of trust in those fishermen catching the lobsters."

"We now have a local business that unfortunately is going to be closing its doors."

Fining the company and ordering it to pay prosecution costs, Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood said the matter of catching undersized shellfish is "taken very seriously".

She said 'the issue has arisen because [they] were relying on fishermen' to measure them, but the 'responsibility is on [the company] to check'.

The issue had arisen, she added, due to an 'error in processes'.