Scallop Dredge — medium — identity high, gear inferred from licence entitlement only confidence
How this case was judged
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 17.4 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 behaviour. This 17-hour event lies inside the Berwick Bank wind farm survey area during a geotechnical campaign with contracted scouting and guard vessels. For about 10 of its 17 hours the vessel moved at under half a knot, and it held almost still every night from 21 to 25 June; the rest of its movement ran at about 4 knots. Neither fits scallop dredging, which this vessel's own record shows as continuous towing at 2.5-3 knots, day and night. From August 2026 the vessel broadcasts as a guard vessel. On this record the hours cannot be identified as fishing.
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: scallop_dredge.
Rulestrong
What was prohibited there, then, for that gear?
Carve-out recorded: demersal seine permitted here.
Demersal mobile gear is prohibited, with an explicit carve-out for demersal seines. The carve-out matters in practice rather than academically: pair-seiners and dual-purpose seiner/trawlers work this ground, and their activity here may be entirely lawful. It is also why this closure cannot be adjudicated from its gear class alone — the instrument has to be read.
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.