FISHERMAN has been ordered to pay £1 million as part of the notorious black fish fraud case 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.

Buchan was one of four captains ordered over the proceeds of their crimes at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

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.

Confiscation orders totalling almost £3m and fines of about £1m had previously made against 17 skippers involved in what judges described as “an episode of shame” for the fishing industry.

The vessel masters and three factories conspired to under report fishing levels from the North Sea in a scam estimated to have been worth at least £62.8m.

Speaking after today’s court hearing, 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: “These investigations have been an excellent example of highly effective partnership working by a number of Law Enforcement bodies across Scotland and beyond.

“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.

“I look forward to the sizeable sums seized today, and indeed monies from the previous over fishing cases within this investigation being distributed to many worthwhile causes across our communities in Scotland.”

Cephas Ralph, head of compliance at Marine Scotland, said: “Today’s court activity was the successful result of long running and complex joint operations into large-scale illegality at a small number of processing plants initially uncovered during factory raids over six years ago.

“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.”

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