Cefas News Release - Fish Smugglers Appeal Fails

News release ref: 02/07
Date: 15 March 2007

An appeal against a fine of £3,500 imposed by magistrates in Folkstone, Kent, on a 53-year-old man from Thamesmead last December was dismissed at a Crown Court hearing at Ashford this week.

In August 2006 Anthony John Dovaston had attempted to import nearly 1 tonne of carp illegally from France without fish health certification. He appealed against the severity of the sentence.

After hearing the circumstances of the case His Honour Judge McDonald told the appellant that it was difficult to imagine a worse case of fish smuggling. The judge went on to say that it had been a well-prepared and cynically executed act involving “horrible cruelty” to the fish, many of which were found to be dead or on the verge of death.

HM Revenue and Customs officers discovered 165 carp in tanks in Mr Dovaston’s hired van. The officers called in Fish Health Inspectors from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas). Officers from the State Veterinary Service were also involved in dealing with the incident.

Fish Health Inspectors humanely slaughtered all of the cargo to prevent further suffering to the animals, and to safeguard against the spread of disease to native fish stocks.

Cefas spokesman senior Fish Health Inspector Alasdair Scott commented: “We would prefer it if people simply stopped smuggling, but if they persist in this activity we will do all we can to stop them to protect our indigenous fish against the very real threat of disease posed by this activity.”

Notes for editors

1. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment, based at Lowestoft since 1902. It also has laboratories at Burnham-on-Crouch and Weymouth, and a number of other facilities around the UK. It is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). For more details visit the Cefas website: www.cefas.co.uk.

2. The Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI), based at Cefas’ Weymouth laboratory, is dedicated to maintaining and improving fish and shellfish health in England and Wales. Its primary role is to act for Defra and the National Assembly for Wales, Agriculture Department (NAWAD) in undertaking statutory and inspection duties resulting from the EU Fish Health regime and other national legislation in the area of fish and shellfish health.

3. The Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing certification and licensing arrangements in respect of fish and shellfish from other countries and runs a programme aimed at preventing the illegal importation of these animals.

4. For more about movement controls and enforcement, see www.cefas.co.uk/fhi/movements.htm.

Press contact:
Anne McClarnon: 01502 52 4370 / anne.mcclarnon@cefas.co.uk.