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 20.7 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 21-hour event lies inside the closure, but it is the average of a 159 km track spanning more than a degree of longitude. Global Fishing Watch's own effort data, clipped to the closure's boundary, places none of this vessel's roughly 25 hours of apparent fishing on 26 and 27 August inside it. On this record the vessel cannot be placed fishing inside the closure.
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.
Vesselstrong
What gear does this boat actually use?
Bottom-towed gear established: beam_trawl (TBB).
Rulestrong
What was prohibited there, then, for that gear?
Rule reviewed: Paragraph 3: "A person must not use bottom towed fishing gear in a specified area." Paragraph 1: "bottom towed fishing gear" means any trawls, seines, dredges, or similar gear, including trawls towed on or very close to the seabed, which are actively moved in the water by one or more fishing vessels or by any other mechanised system and in which ANY PART of the gear is designed and rigged to operate on, and be in contact with, the seabed [2023 adds: "in order to take any sea fisheries resources"]..
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.