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, but below the bar for a strong call (4.9 h, 1 bout(s), 0 AIS fix(es)).
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.
Vesselunknown
What gear does this boat actually use?
The gear research on this vessel is closed: it was not established, and the case was resolved rather than left pending.
NORTHERN VENTURE N77 — Researched and not established, 2026-10-09 (cycle 96). IDENTITY IS PLN-ANCHORED; THE GEAR IS NOT STATED BY ANY SOURCE; AND THE HULL IS SELF-DECLARED ON AIS AS A GUARD VESSEL. One live case, #80909, North Norfolk Sandbank and Saturn Reef SAC (BTFG Byelaw 2023), 4 Oct 2026: activity STRONG and rule STRONG, so gear was the only blocker. IDENTITY: GFW vessel-identity selfReportedInfo for ssvid 235076636 carries the AIS name "NORTHERN VENTURE N77", callsign 2CXS3, 2015-08-06 to 2016-03-07, so the MMSI broadcast its own PLN. registryInfo on the same ssvid (sources EU, IMO) = NORTHERN VENTURE, callsign 2CXS3, IMO 8774035, 19.9 m, 110 GT. MMO over-10m list, 1 September 2026: PLN N77, NORTHERN VENTURE, RSS C17465, licence 50112, admin port BELFAST, home port KILKEEL, Anglo-North Irish FPO, 19.9 m, 110 GT, 431 kW, built 1982, steel, built in EIR, CATEGORY A, shellfish N, scallop N. The name is unique on the register (one RSS, one PLN). Length and tonnage agree to the decimal, which is the cycle-13 dimensional anchor, on top of the broadcast PLN. MarineLink (MMSI-keyed) gives 66 ft, callsign 2CXS3, visited ports Lowestoft, Fraserburgh, Hartlepool, Kilkeel; vesseltracker gives 20.0 x 6.0 m, Fishing Boat. GEAR, NOT ESTABLISHED: no source states a fishing method for N77. GFW registry gear TRAWLERS (EU/IMO) is registry gear and not authoritative (the MULTRATUG 35 precedent), and GFW's combinedSourcesInfo for it is COMBINATION_OF_REGISTRY_AND_AIS_INFERRED_NN_INFO, i.e. partly the activity model itself. The EU Union Fleet Register returns 0 rows for NORTHERN VENTURE, 2CXS3, N77 and the MMSI (control MARANATHA 2 found at once), consistent with UK hulls having left it. A 20 m Kilkeel Category A boat with no scallop entitlement is plausibly a nephrops trawler, but that is fleet inference, the REAPER failure, and it was not written. WHY IT MAY NOT MATTER, AND WHY THIS CLOSURE IS NOT A FINDING EITHER WAY: the vessel has broadcast the AIS name "GV NORTHERN VENTURE" (GV = guard vessel, the prefix GV MORNING STAR and GV REAPER also carry) on this MMSI and callsign up to 2026-10-06. Its GFW record for Oct 2025 to Oct 2026 is a guard-vessel pattern, not a fishing one: 271 GFW 'fishing' events, many lasting 2-11 days unbroken at a 1.3-2.0 kn average (e.g. 24 May-4 Jun 2026, 11 days, 695 km, 1.53 kn) within a few km of one point, on offshore-wind and gas-field sites (51.79N 1.67E; 52.37N 2.71E; 52.46N 2.83E, the East Anglia THREE array; 52.02N 2.25E; 53.07N 3.21E), with 244 GFW LOITERING events over the same windows. Her port calls are Lowestoft only, 13 of 14 visits; the other is Kilkeel, 31 Dec 2025-28 Jan 2026. The case bout is now GFW event d9b8ed9186758fa53a4d1a6dcd609164; our stored id fa42bae0c9f90b28f3663165eb5e33b6 returns 404, the stale-id problem. It runs 4 Oct 15:20Z to 5 Oct 23:58Z, 32.6 h, 72.5 km, a 1.28 kn average, and starts 8 h after she sailed from Lowestoft. The site at 53.18N 2.06E sits among the Leman and Indefatigable gas-field pipelines. A demersal trawl is towed at 2.5-4 kn. NOT DOCUMENTED, AND SAID PLAINLY: no notice to mariners found names her. 193 Eastern IFCA-hosted notices were text-searched for NORTHERN VENTURE, 235076636 and 2CXS3 with no hit: the EA3 weekly notices of operations 2025-26, the Hornsea 3 weekly construction notices, EA2, Scroby Sands, Triton Knoll, Lynn and Inner Dowsing, and others. Those notices list other guard vessels by name and MMSI (e.g. GV Adventure, 235109237), so the absence is real for those projects, but it does not cover gas-field or decommissioning work. The guard role therefore rests on the vessel's own AIS name plus GFW behaviour. That is MMSI-anchored, but it is not a document, so she was NOT moved to known-non-fishing.json: she holds a current Category A fishing licence and could return to fishing. RECALL COST: if N77 was in fact trawling inside the SAC while broadcasting GV, this closes a real case, and while this entry stands every future case on this MMSI also closes as not_established. Nothing promoted, nothing exonerated; reversible by deleting the entry.
This is not a finding that the vessel did nothing. It withdraws a pending accusation, which is the safe direction — and it reverses the moment a source states the gear, because every verdict is re-derived from the data files on each request.
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: 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.
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.