A European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) surveillance aircraft was involved in the recent detention of a German-registered Spanish vessel in the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
In a joint statement, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) and Naval Service said that the apprehension was the result of a joint operation under the EFCA western waters joint deployment plan.
The vessel, named Ortega Tres, was the fourth detention to have been recorded by the Naval Service this year.
The patrol ship LÉ Samuel Beckett detained it on February 7th, and it was escorted into Castletownbere where it was handed over to the Garda authorities on February 13th.
At a subsequent court hearing in Bandon, the skipper of the German-registered gillnetter, Ramon Novo Martinez, was charged with a total of 25 fishing offences on various dates between a date unknown in December 2022 and February 3rd 2023 while fishing within the exclusive fishing limits of the Irish State.
The SFPA and Naval Service said it followed “extensive analysis of the vessel’s Electronic Logbook (ERS) and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) positions over a number of weeks”.
“An intelligence-led operation with multi-agency cooperation led to the detention,” the statement said.
An “intel report” from a confidential source on January 6th was received by both bodies on January 6th last, and the fisheries monitoring centre (FMC) then tracked the vessel once it entered the Irish EEZ in late January, the statement said.
The Naval Service then requested aerial surveillance by an aircraft chartered by the EFCA, which had a flight plan for the Irish EEZ at that time under the joint deployment plan.
“The flight plan was amended to monitor this vessel, and the video footage gathered verified the intel received as well as additional evidence gathered,” the statement said.
“The Naval Service had a sea-fisheries protection officer on-site at the EFCA Coordination Centre ... analysing this aerial footage as it was live steamed back to both the SFPA and the FMC,” it said.