Fisherman who repeatedly raided rival’s lobster and crab pots must pay €55,000 compensation

A fisherman who was alleged to have raided another fisherman’s lobster pots over a period of weeks has agreed to pay €55,000 compensation to the owner of the lobsters and crabs taken.

Paddy MacAuley of the The Irish Popcorn and Snackfood Company Limited, of Rathnew, Co Wicklow, (Popcorn) sued rival fisherman Mark Byrne in the Circuit Civil Court for €60,000 damages for loss of lobsters and crabs taken from his lobster pots and financial loss through disruption of his business.

Barrister Mary-Jo Butler, counsel for Popcorn, told Judge Jennifer O’Brien that Byrne, of Castle Terrace, Wicklow, had also agreed to the making of a court order restraining him from taking lobsters and crabs from Popcorn’s pots or interfering with them.

Ms Butler, who appeared with Gus Cullen of Augustus Cullen Law, Wentworth Place, Wicklow, told the court that Byrne’s settlement included acceptance of Judge O’Brien making an order directing that he pay The Popcorn and Snackfood Company Limited €55,000.

She said the agreement included the granting of a permanent stay on the court orders providing Byrne paid Popcorn €20,000 within six weeks and €15,000 within six months, completion of which would reduce the settlement figure to €35,000.

MacAuley’s company had claimed that Byrne, a licensed fisherman owning two boats, had over several weeks in 2012 raided a number of Popcorn’s 600 lobster pots which the company had baited and laid along the coast between Wicklow and Bray. The claim alleged Byrne had sold or disposed of lobsters and crabs to his own benefit.

Popcorn, alleging that on numerous dates between March and August 2012 it had observed Byrne tampering with and lifting its pots, claimed it had been obliged to carry out almost 24-hour surveillance on its pots and send boats out to watch them.

The pots would later have been found empty and abandoned “in an entangled manner” away from their original marked GPS positions. Owing to the alleged huge cost of watching the pots MacAuley’s company had abandoned fishing for crabs and lobster for the remainder of the 2012 season and had estimated losses of up to €150,000

Popcorn’s allegations were denied by Byrne who had put the plaintiff company on full proof of its claims.

At Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court at Bray in December 2020, following a plea of guilty to theft of 34 lobsters and 100 crabs, Byrne was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment which was fully suspended on his entering a bond to be of good behaviour and keep the peace for two years and to pay Popcorn €5,000 within a period of two years.

The trial judge at Bray, Judge Gerard Griffin, directed that Byrne be given credit for €1,450 he had already paid and emphasised that this amount was to be taken as a token of remorse and was not to be considered as compensation or part payment in any civil proceedings.

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