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 recorded at a position inside the closure, over an event lasting 36.4 h — the recorded extent of this fishing event is not contained by the closure, so the share of those hours spent inside it is not measured.
Activity contested on location. The single representative position for this 36-hour event lies about 2 km inside the closure, but Global Fishing Watch's own effort data, clipped to the closure's boundary, places none of roughly 55 hours of apparent fishing over those days inside it. The nearest fishing hour is about 1 km outside the northern boundary. This vessel cannot be placed fishing inside the closure on this record.
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.
Article 14(1) of the Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025 (SSI 2025/240) prohibits fishing for sea fish with demersal mobile gear — a demersal seine net, a demersal trawl or a dredge — in the Pobie Bank Reef Protected Area. The boundary used here reproduces the 37 points of schedule 12, which describe the Order's protected area rather than the SAC outline. The Order has no exception, season or permit route for this site.
Not established: activity.
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.