A skipper who failed to log where he had been fishing and when he had finished has been fined £2,000.
Angus MacLeod admitted the offence when his case called at Inverness Sheriff Court – but criticised Marine Scotland for insisting on electronically logging the information on equipment he had never been trained to use.
Marine Scotland is a directorate of the Scottish Government and is responsible for the integrated management of Scotland’s seas.
MacLeod breached the EU Recording and Reporting Regulations between April 14, 2014 and May 24, 2014 after landings at Mallaig and Ullapool, where his vessel Kildonan is registered.
He and his crew had been fishing at 18 different locations without logging them, fiscal depute Ross Carvel said yesterday.
Mr Carvel added there had been a previous instance of a similar nature, and MacLeod had been fined £1,000.
He said Macleod, of 10 St Margaret’s Road, Inverness, had been offered a second fixed penalty of £2,000 but had not paid it.
MacLeod, 31, told the court that he was now unemployed and studying to be qualified to master larger fishing vessels.
He added: “I have paid the first fixed penalty but it took some time for the second penalty to come out and by that time I was coming to court.
“How do Marine Scotland expect us to electronically log something but don’t train us how to use the computer? In any other job, you get training but Marine Scotland don’t offer that.”
Sheriff David Sutherland was told Macleod did not own the boat, and that its owner had not provided training either.
He fined him £2,000.