The law enforcement ship on patrol investigating illegal fishing in Cornwall

  • ITV News West Country joined the inspectors investigating illegal fishing activity around the coast of Cornwall.

Outside of the world of fishing there is a little known team who are responsible for making sure what is caught off the coast of Cornwall is legal.

Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority is in charge of enforcing the law within its six mile jurisdiction of the peninsular coast. It has the right to inspect any fishing vessel and look at what is being landed at Cornish ports.

"Most fishermen are expecting this, it's what we do" says Principle Enforcement Officer Simon Cadman.

"It's really important that we have a strong presence around the coast. I think without that I'm sure there would be more things coming in that shouldn't be."

Bodyworn footage logs every time the crew boards a fishing vessel even for a routine inspection. Credit: CORNWALL IFCA

In 2023 the team spent hundreds of hours investigating and in their most serious cases prosecuted illegal crab and lobster fishing and foreign vessels scallop dredging in our waters.

I have covered these cases for ITV West Country finding out why it is illegal to fish for breeding lobsters and what Cornwall is doing to protect their shellfish stocks.In several cases fishers have been fined up to £30,000 for illegal methods of fishing like using electric currents to harvest tonnes of clams off the Cornish coast.

Principle Enforcement Officer Simon Cadman shows Charlotte Gay the route of today's patrol Credit: ITV News

On a cold morning I joined the team as they set off from Newlyn for a routine patrol around the West Cornwall coast.

Using their enforcement vessel the Saint Piran, the team monitor the coastline from Bude's north coast around to the Plymouth Sound.

During our trip we mostly met small scale fishers who were potting around Mount's Bay.

This is where some of the crew disembarked the main Saint Piran vessel and used their high-speed rib to pull up next to fishing crews and board their boats.

Senior enforcement officer Gavin Purcell says the reaction from crews is generally "very good" because they are also there to support the crews.

"We've got decent fishermen in Cornwall. People are used to seeing us and it's not just enforcement work we're also doing e-monitoring work and passing on information. So generally it's a good reception."

It would be illegal for a fisher to catch a berried lobster which is carrying thousands of unhatched eggs Credit: CORNWALL IFCA

While the officers inspect the catch to make sure fishers are not bringing in undersized stock, the crew onboard the Saint Piran prepare their legal documentation.

Skipper Dan Matthew says, "Gavin on the rib reports back who the boat is, it's registration number, and the method of fishing. So if there is a court case that its positional rule and that [logbook] becomes a legal document."

Dan says the team are conscious to avoid as much disruption to the fishers as possible.

"Although it's a private [radio] channel, it's not secure. So we don't give any sort of personal information about what we see on each boat over the radio, just in case, because it is commercially sensitive if they're having a good catch in a certain area."

Even when it is a routine inspection the crew wear body cameras which can be used as evidence in court if there is a case to follow.

However Principle Enforcement Officer Simon Cadman says the majority of fishing teams around Cornwall are acting within the law.

"It's rare for us to find things wrong, particularly with the inshore boats like this who really care about their future and want to see a sustainable fishing for the people that come along behind them."

The team say they have a mutually beneficial relationship with the fishing community around Cornwall Credit: ITV News

On the way back to Newlyn the team say they want and need a good relationship with their local fishers, but it is their job to ask questions."If we come board and find the catch isn't what it should be then we obviously are going to ask questions of the skipper to find out how that's happened. Of course, that situation can escalate to the point where we are taking on a full investigation."

Many serious investigations can take months or even years to go through the court system thanks to a backlog of cases.

However the team say they have worked hard to educate the courts to understand the seriousness of the crimes being presented to them and have been running educational courses for magistrates in Cornwall.