THE Royal Navy has boarded a fisherman’s stall – while he was on dry land.

Terry Stimpson was selling his catch on The Hard, Brightlingsea, during the town regatta when officers from HMS Tyne inspected his fish.

An officer first asked to look in one of his boxes, before returning with colleagues with orders to carry out an inspection.

Mr Stimpson, of Tudor Green, Jaywick, said he had been boarded at sea before and been inspected by fisheries officials when unloading his catch, but this was the first time he had been checked while selling his catch.

“It was quite a surprise, I didn’t know it could be called a boarding,” said Mr Stimpson, 51.

“This is the first time my catch has been inspected once it’s prepared and ready to sell. The whole thing smelt very fishy.”

Mr Stimpson is being prosecuted for breaching EU fishing quotas.

Satisfied with his catch the naval officers left Mr Stimpson and returned to their ship.

Mr Stimpson said: “They have got to do their job, but I was annoyed because I was trying to serve people. If I can’t sell my fish, I can’t survive.”

A Royal Navy spokesman said: “A team from HMS Tyne, led by a qualified Royal Navy marine enforcement officer, on behalf of the Harwich office of the Marine Management Organisation, was involved in shore inspections on the quayside in Brightlingsea.

“In this instance the marine enforcement officer inspected the fish being sold by a fisherman on the jetty as they looked close to the minimum size allowable by EU and UK fisheries legislation.

“No infringements were found.”

A high-profile campaign led by chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is protesting against the discard policy, which forces fishermen to throw overboard edible but dead fish to make sure they don’t breach quotas. Mr Stimpson said he was forced to throw away a tonne of skate recently to comply with the quotas.

  • Terry Stimpson faces two charges of breaching his fishing licence by exceeding his cod catch in February and March 2011, one of breaching his North Sea skate and rays allowance in May 2011 and failing to submit an EU logbook and landing declaration.

With fishermen Daniel Swallow and James Craig, Stimpson’s next hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on September 14 will decide if the case should proceed.