‘Black fish’ scandal fisherman ordered to repay £1m in North Sea fraud case

A FISHERMAN caught up in the notorious “black fish” scandal has been ordered to repay £1 million, which he made from the criminal racket in the north east of Scotland.

The confiscation order against Ian Buchan, 55, master of the Quantas fishing vessel, is one of the largest ever made against an individual in Scotland, the Crown Office said.

It brings the amount confiscated from vessel masters involved in the massive fraud to more than £4m, with a further £1m issued in fines.

Prosecutors have also applied for one of the three factories involved in the scam, Shetland Catch Ltd, to be stripped of more than £6m, with a judge to decide on 14 June.

Buchan was one of four captains to receive confiscation orders at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday. They had all previously pled guilty to landing undeclared fish at Fresh Catch Ltd and Alexander Buchan Ltd between 2002 and 2005.

Of the others, James Duthie, 55, master of the Sunbeam, was ordered to pay £99,000, Stephen Bellany, 49, master of the Unity, was handed a £64,612 bill, and Oswald McRonald, 64, master of the Quantas, received a confiscation order for £23,669.

Judges have described the black fish fraud as “an episode of shame” for the fishing industry.

Twenty-seven pelagic trawler skippers – those who fished mackerel and herring, the largest and most lucrative part of the industry – were in on the act, along with factories and agents.

Ingenious ways were found to smuggle tens of thousands of tonnes of fish through secret underground pipes and illegal conveyor belts, away from the prying eyes of inspectors. Between January 2002 and September 2005, they illegally handled £62.8m – more than 170,000 tonnes – of undeclared fish.

Lesley Thomson QC, the Solicitor General, said: “Serious and organised crime can take many forms and these individuals were involved in significant organised criminality.

“They put their own financial gain first and sought to obtain staggering amounts of money with blatant disregard for the impact such large-scale overfishing would have.

“Our message is very clear that there is no place in Scotland for those who want a lifestyle funded by crime and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement agencies to use Proceeds of Crime laws to make Scotland an increasingly hostile place for these criminals.”

Detective Superintendent Gordon Gibson, of Grampian Police, who led the police investigation, added: “The significant sums of money seized under the Proceeds of Crime legislation clearly show that these men were involved in a highly organised criminal enterprise for their own profit.”

The fishing industry insists it has cleaned up its act since the fraud was exposed.

Cephas Ralph, head of compliance at Marine Scotland, said: “This action has prompted huge improvements in levels of compliance but my officers remain continuously vigilant in monitoring the enormous quantities of valuable herring and mackerel handled by Scottish processing plants.”