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?
2 separate fishing bouts inside the closure — a vessel on passage makes one.
Apparent fishing recorded at a position inside the closure, over an event lasting 14.5 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. GFW's own record of the second bout gives an average speed of 0.07 kn over 1.7 h, far below the speed an otter trawl can be towed at, so at least one of the two bouts this case counts is not towing. The event fell on the day of a south-westerly gale over the Hebrides, when Broad Bay, on the sheltered east side of Lewis, is a lee for vessels riding out weather; a second offshore trawler was scored as fishing in the same bay that day. With no AIS track of our own, apparent fishing here cannot be told apart from a vessel sheltering from the weather.
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.
Rule reviewed against the instrument: SSI 2004/276 article 3(1) prohibits fishing for sea fish with a trawl, Danish seine or similar net, purse seine, ring net or dredge (including a suction dredge) throughout Broad Bay, and Schedule 1 item 17 sets the period of prohibition at '1st January to 31st December in each year'. The row carries no excepted method and no excepted period, so the article 4 exception does not reach this closure.
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.