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.
Activitystrong
Was it fishing, here, and then?
33 of our own AIS fixes during the event — the strongest basis available.
Vesselunknown
What gear does this boat actually use?
The gear research on this vessel is closed: it was not established, and the case was resolved rather than left pending.
MARIDA DO37 — Closed on the SARAH LOUISE test (gear not researched), 2026-09-07 (cycle 67). CLOSED ON THE SARAH LOUISE TEST, AND DOUBLY BLOCKED. The one live case (16412) is in the West Coast Marine Nature Reserve (Manx Marine Nature Reserve Byelaws 2018, Isle of Man), a closure that has NEVER been adjudicated - so it is blocked on rule AND vessel together, and settling either alone clears nothing. Two notes for whoever takes it: the stored rule text is actually promising - 'No person may use any towable fishing gear or a long-line within any part of the Reserve', with the DEFA licence limb attaching to the PERMITTED gear (pots, passive nets, rod and line) rather than to the ban - so the condition scanner's 'permit or licence condition' flag may be reading a carve-out that does not apply to towed gear. But adjudicating it STRICTER is a promotion path and therefore Angus's gate, not a cycle's. And the vessel is Isle of Man-adjacent: DO37 is a Douglas registration, and the Isle of Man publishes no downloadable register, which is the branch data/gear-unobtainable.json calls unobtainable by construction. CAPPED BY: rule: unadjudicated (West Coast MNR), so gear alone clears nothing. WHAT WOULD REOPEN IT: Adjudicating the Manx Marine Nature Reserve Byelaws 2018 against the Order's own wording - with Angus's sign-off, because on the stored text it reads STRICTER and that is a promotion path.
This is not a finding that the vessel did nothing. It withdraws a pending accusation, which is the safe direction — and it reverses the moment a source states the gear, because every verdict is re-derived from the data files on each request.
Ruleunknown
What was prohibited there, then, for that gear?
The rule text carries conditions we do not model (seasonal; permit or licence condition), and this closure has not been adjudicated. It cannot be established that the prohibition applied to this vessel on this date.
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.