Fisheries investigations
Documented accounts of reported illegal fishing, built from official records a reader can open: what each document shows, what it does not, and what is still unknown.
FishingHQ is not an enforcement body and does not take reports. It explains the rules and points to the authorities that do. Find who to report to
Published investigations
- Torness: reports of illegal sea bass fishing at the power station outfall
What four official surveys recorded between 2006 and 2023, what they do and do not show, the rules then and now, and what remains unanswered.
The shore by Torness power station, East Lothian, Scotland · Last reviewed 26 October 2026
How an investigation is put together
An investigation starts from documents: official reports, legislation, published enforcement figures, and the pages of the authorities involved. Each is read at the pages cited, and each statement on the page is tied to a document and a page or section.
Every statement is labelled with what kind of evidence it is. The labels exist because an official document can record an allegation without endorsing it, and a reader should never have to work out which is which.
How each statement is labelled
- Officially documented statement
- A public body states something in its own name: a law, a rule, a published figure, or what it says it is doing.
- Direct observation
- Something a survey team or official saw and wrote down at the time, such as how many people were fishing.
- Reported claim or allegation
- Something people told a survey team or an authority, written down in an official document. Recording it does not verify it.
- Confirmed enforcement action
- An authority states it took a specific action: an inspection, a warning, a seizure or a penalty.
- Court or tribunal outcome
- A conviction, an acquittal or another decision of a court or tribunal.
- Unresolved question
- Something the published evidence does not answer.
Each investigation also shows how far the published evidence reaches, from a report to an enforcement outcome:
From a report to an outcome: five stages, none of them automatic
A report can stop at any stage, for good reasons and bad ones. Reaching one stage says nothing about whether the next will follow.
Stage 1
Report
Somebody says an offence is happening, to an authority, a survey or the public.
Stage 2
Investigation
An authority looks into it: visits, inspects, asks questions.
Stage 3
Evidence
Something is gathered that could prove or disprove an offence.
Stage 4
Official finding
An authority decides an offence took place.
Stage 5
Enforcement outcome
A warning, a penalty, a prosecution or a court decision follows.
What is never published
- The name, photograph, address, vehicle or boat of anyone said to be involved.
- Descriptions of people by nationality, ethnicity or background, even where a source gives one.
- Any claim that a named business bought or sold illegally caught fish, without independent proof.
- Forum posts, social media and blogs as evidence. They can point to where official records might exist; they are not relied on for any statement, and several people repeating one story are not several witnesses.
- Precise fishing marks, maps or access advice for the places concerned.
Corrections, reviews and right of response
Each investigation shows when it was first published and last reviewed, keeps a dated log of changes, and lists every correction. Anyone named in or responsible for something on an investigation page can ask for a correction or send a response; see the editorial policy.
FishingHQ does not take reports of offences, and investigation pages do not ask for evidence. If you have seen illegal fishing, tell the authority responsible.