Council exploring action against fishing boat which ‘deliberately ignored’ instructions
THE COUNCIL’S legal team are set to explore possible actions against a local fishing boat which “deliberately ignored” instructions at Sullom Voe harbour.
The vessel failed to notify vessel traffic services at Sullom Voe that they would be leaving their berth on 24 April of this year, Wednesday’s harbour board meeting heard.
An instruction not to depart the berth was then “deliberately ignored”, councillors were told.
A notice had already been placed on the same vessel to advise against departure “due to a number of infringements of port regulations” previously.
Interim harbourmaster Ross Gordon said the local fishing boat “has had a number of infractions”.
He said they would be speaking to Shetland Islands Council’s legal team about what action could be taken against them.
The meeting heard that possible actions could be for the crew to be educated about the dangers, taken in for a meeting or given a warning.
The “ultimate sanction”, Gordon said, would be prosecution.
Councillors were told that there had been 11 incidents in the Sullom Voe harbour in the two months between 20 February and 24 April 2025.
On 9 April the same boat also failed to notify vessel traffic services of their intention to shift berth, with attempts to make contact with the owner “ignored”.
They heard that matter remains “under active consideration”, with the council “committed to pursuing it to resolution”.
An incident on 23 February saw between 300-400 litres of diesel leaked into the water in the Sella Ness area, members heard.
Harbour staff were alerted to a strong smell of diesel in the area and, on investigation, found a local fishing boat’s fuel tank had leaked onto its bilges and the automatic bilge pump had drained into the harbour.
“Harbour staff mobilised and agitated the sheen, aided by the weather conditions, until it dissipated naturally,” the council said.
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“A letter and invoice for costs reimbursement have been sent to owner.”
And on 8 April harbour staff were made aware that a diver was in the water after a diving contractor advised a ferry to slow down.
However the contractor had failed to notify the harbour authority of their planned diving activities, which led the contractor to be “reminded of their obligations for proper notification”.
Councillor Stephen Leask raised concern about the incident where a local boat “deliberately ignored” Sullom Voe staff’s direct requests.
He asked if the consequences of this could have been serious, to which Gordon replied: “Yes, it could be quite serious”.
The meeting also heard that one vessel traffic services officer was currently off with a long-term illness.
Councillor Dennis Leask asked what the “safety implications” of this were, adding: “How are we managing to cover that?”
Gordon admitted this was an “absolutely essential post”, and that they were covering the post through both overtime and people stepping in to ensure they had 24/7 coverage.
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