Unidentified radar target inside Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA 2nd Area

The case in brief

Assessed and closed: activity and vessel cannot be established on any evidence available to us.

Case

#81079

Observation

Satellite radar detection, no AIS

Closed area

Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA 2nd Area (Offshore Fishing Order 2025)

What is prohibited there

demersal (seabed) fishing prohibited

When

2026-09-29 06:44 UTC → 2026-10-05 17:59 UTC

Position

60.3600°, -4.0000°

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.

• Activity unknown

  Was it fishing, here, and then?

  • Radar detection with no vessel attribution — establishes that a hull was present, not who or what it was.
  • No vessel was matched to this detection when it was raised, so there is no identity to research: a radar return carries no name, no MMSI and no registration. A closure cannot be enforced against a position.
  • What would settle it: an AIS track placing a named vessel at this position and time. Absent that, this case can never name a defendant and cannot be promoted.

• Vessel unknown

  What gear does this boat actually use?

  • No vessel identity on this case.
  • Every gear and licence record we hold is keyed on MMSI, so with no identity there is no record to find and no research that could produce one.

• Rule strong

  What was prohibited there, then, for that gear?

  • Article 8(2) of the Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025 (SSI 2025/240) prohibits fishing for sea fish with demersal mobile gear or demersal static gear in the Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt Second Protected Area (schedule 6, Part 2). Demersal static gear includes creels, pots and traps, so creeling is prohibited here as well as trawling, seine netting and dredging. The Order has no exception, season or permit route for this site.

Not established: activity; vessel. 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.

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