Marine and fisheries compliance: referrals of cases to Crown Office

Where it is determined that there is sufficient evidence, and that a prosecution is in the public interest, Marine Scotland refer the case to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service who will decide whether a case can proceed to trial or issue a fiscal fine.

If there is any possibility of identification of living persons from the data, then it will not be published.

It should be noted that:

• reports received are very much at the start of any process, while fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued and referrals to COPFS are in most cases at the end of a process
• this means that as the data covers the same time period the data may not relate to the same events

Cases referred to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)

Offence	1 June 2021 -     30 November 2021	1 December 2021 - 30 June 2022	1 July 2022 - 31 December 2022	1 January 2023 - 30 June 2023	1 July 2023 -             31 December 2023	1 January 2024 - 30 June 2024
Statutory returns offences	1	3	6	2	3	0
Fishing gear offences	0	1	2	0	3	0
Fishing without authority	0	0	0	0	1	0
MPA, and other protected/restricted area offences	1	1	2	0	5	0
Marine Licensing	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildlife Crime	0	0	0	0	0	0
Unlicensed/Hobby fishing	0	0	0	0	1	0
Landing Obligation (Discarding)	0	0	1	0	0	0
Vessel tracking requirements	0	0	0	1	0	0
Gear marking requirements	0	0	0	0	0	0
Illegal equipment	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other Fishing Licence restrictions	0	0	0	0	0	0
Boarding ladders	0	0	0	0	0	0
Undersize or prohibited fish/shellfish	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other offences not elsewhere classified	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	5	11	3	13	0

• reports received are very much at the start of any process, while fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued and referrals to COPFS are in most cases at the end of a process
• this means that as the data covers the same time period the data may not relate to the same events 

Marine and fisheries compliance: referrals of cases to Crown Office

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