Every CAUGHT case is assessed on three independent questions, and
the weakest of the three decides. A case reads CAUGHT only when all three are
established and a person has reviewed it.
Activitymoderate
Was it fishing, here, and then?
Apparent fishing, but below the bar for a strong call (5.1 h, 1 bout(s), 0 AIS fix(es)).
We hold no AIS track for this vessel over this event (0 fixes), so the only measures available are GFW's own dwell and bout counts, which are fixed and do not improve on re-examination.
What would settle it: AIS coverage of this vessel during the event, or independent corroboration. Neither is obtainable by research — both need a data source we do not yet have.
Vesselunknown
What gear does this boat actually use?
This vessel's gear cannot be established by any route available to us.
CHERLARIS — searched all 39 published UK fishing vessel lists from January 2015 to September 2026 (96,723 rows, 6,349 distinct vessel names). The name "CHERLARIS" appears in NONE of them, in any month, in eleven years. Zones: Multi-Rigged Trawling Gear (CSFC Byelaw 13). 4 case(s) at the time of listing.
CONFIRMED AND STRENGTHENED 2026-09-05 (cycle 48), which put all nine remaining entries to an MMSI-anchored ship-type lookup and moved the other eight to data/known-non-fishing.json. CHERLARIS is the one that IS a fishing vessel: MyShipTracking and VesselFinder, both MMSI-keyed on 235081001, return ship type "Fishing" and 15 x 5 m; the callsign 2DPQ4 matches GFW selfReportedInfo on the same ssvid (191,579 messages, 2013-11-01 to 2026-09-01), so it is the same transmitter as our case data. GFW holds no registryInfo. So this entry now rests on a POSITIVE identification as a fishing vessel PLUS the eleven-year register negative, which is the second branch of the _note test — not a UK-licensed fishing vessel, therefore no MMO gear record, therefore gear unobtainable. Its four cases sit at 54.46-54.72 N, 3.52-3.77 W in the eastern Irish Sea off the Cumbrian coast, which is ISLE OF MAN fishing water (the island lies ~60 nm south-west), and the Isle of Man publishes no downloadable register and is excluded by construction from both UK lists. That is the most likely explanation of the negative and it is exactly the branch the _note anticipates. WHAT WOULD REOPEN IT: an Isle of Man register becoming available, or any source stating gear against MMSI 235081001. Its gear remains genuinely unobtainable, and the case for `exhausted` is stronger after this cycle than before it.
What would reopen it: the vessel appearing on a future MMO list, an Isle of Man or Channel Islands register becoming available, or any source stating the gear against this MMSI.
Ruleunknown
What was prohibited there, then, for that gear?
Rule reviewed and NOT resolved: A breach requires establishing that the vessel used TWIN OR MULTI-RIG gear, not merely that it trawled. Nothing obtainable records the rig configuration of a given tow.
Not established: vessel; rule.
A case is only as strong as its weakest factor, so this one cannot read CAUGHT until that is settled.
Check it yourself
Nothing here asks to be taken on trust. The full report sets out every source,
every measurement and everything we could not establish.
What this is, and what it isn't. A CAUGHT case is a reason to look,
not a verdict, and this page is not a finding that an offence took place. Vessel names
and identifiers come from publicly broadcast AIS data, which can be wrong or
mis-attributed. Most fishing inside UK marine protected areas is currently
legal; CAUGHT only flags places where a rule already exists.
If you own or operate this vessel and believe it has been mischaracterised, write to
contact@caught.org.uk — corrections are
welcomed and we publish them. Your right of reply is set out in our
terms.