Master of Factory Trawler Arrested in Cork, Ireland

 

The captain of the German factory trawler Helen Mary has been arrested at the Port of Cork, Ireland after a law enforcement interdiction at sea. 

On Sunday, a European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) patrol vessel spotted Helen Mary in the Irish EEZ, engaged in possible violations of EU fisheries law. The authorities believe that the Helen Mary may have committed multiple offenses, and she was diverted to the port of Cork for an enhanced inspection. Local outlet the Irish Examiner reports that one element of focus includes the ship's pilot ladder, a frequently-misused piece of safety critical equipment. 

Local police in Cork were alerted Monday to the possibility of charges against the vessel's master. He was detained under Ireland's Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, according to the Gardai, and an investigation is under way. 

The Helen Mary has come under scrutiny before. In 2020, environmental activists with Greenpeace boarded the trawler off the coast of Scotland in an attempt to force it to cease operations in UK marine protected areas, which is legal under British law. The year before, it was detained in a Scottish port for a fisheries-protection investigation. 

Greenpeace has called for tighter restrictions on the operations of factory trawlers, which harvest much larger quantities of fish than other vessel classes.