The owner and a master of a UK-registered fishing vessel have both been sentenced following a joint enforcement operation and subsequent inspections carried out at the Port of Blyth in 2024 and 2025.
On September 11, 2024, officers from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (NIFCA) and Northumbria Police conducted a joint compliance patrol at the Port of Blyth following reports that the fishing vessel Andigee was repeatedly landing undersized shellfish.
Officers inspected and measured a total of 250 lobsters seized from the vessel. Of these, 248 were found to be undersized, 28 were egg-bearing , and two had mutilated tails. Only two lobsters were compliant with legislation.
On January 17, 2025, officers from NIFCA and the MMO conducted inspections on static fishing gear in the NIFCA district set from Andigee, which was not permitted to fish at the time.
Officers seized 70 illegally set lobster pots that were not marked appropriately, and which were discovered to be storing 174 undersize lobsters, one of which was egg-bearing.
The defendants Brenda Denton, owner of, and Charles Michael Denton, master of, the vessel Andigee from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, were found guilty of the 2025 IFCA offences at a trial at Newcastle Magistrates Court in December 2025. They entered guilty pleas on the day of trial to the 2024 MMO and IFCA offences at North Tyneside Magistrates Court on April 16, 2026, following which they were sentenced on the same date for all offences.
The offences were: landing European lobster below the minimum conservation reference size; landing mutilated lobsters; landing egg-bearing lobsters; retaining and carrying berried Lobsters aboard their vessel; fishing within the NIFCA district other than in accordance with a NIFCA permit; and failing to display relevant information on fishing gear.
These offences were in breach of legislation laid out in the Fisheries Act 1981, the Sea Fish Conservation Act 1967, and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 through NIFCA byelaws.
The defendants received proportionate fines and costs totalling £6,060 (US$8,180). They have also been disqualified from holding any IFC permit for three years and forfeited the 70 pots seized by NIFCA.
