THE sentence handed to a fishing firm which flouted EU quota regulations was a "let-off" that undermines attempts to protect threatened fish species, an angling association has said.

The Angling Trust has described its dismay at the two-year conditional discharge handed to Newlyn-based W Stevenson and Sons in place of a fine.

Judge Philip Wassall sentenced the firm at Exeter Crown Court last week after the firm pleaded guilty to running a scam between April and September 2002 which involved falsifying landing documents to sell more expensive fish.

So-called "black fish" from restricted species such as cod or hake were put through the books as other types of fish for which there was spare quota.

This enabled the company to break European rules designed to save dwindling fish stocks, the prosecution said.

Yesterday the Angling Trust decried the sentence, citing the W Stevenson and Sons case as yet another example of the "systematic abuse" of the fishing quota regulations.

A spokesman for the trust – which represents all game, coarse and sea anglers and angling in England – said: "In respect of this judgement, our impression from previous cases is that a conditional discharge is in reality identified as a let off.

"The implications are far reaching and in effect give commercial fishermen the impression that they can now break fishing regulations in the knowledge that they will not face serious sanctions.

"We feel strongly that this endangers the interests of fish stocks and the future of recreational and commercial fishing in the UK."

W Stevenson and Sons admitted 37 charges of submitting a false sales note to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The previous year, the company was found guilty at Truro Crown Court of eight similar charges of falsifying fish sales notes.

The judge issued the firm with a confiscation order of £710,220 and also ordered it to pay prosecution costs of £66,413. However, he decided against a fine.

The trust spokesman said the commercial fishing industry is in receipt of more than £100 million in EU and Government grants.

On the other hand, he said, the Recreational Sea Angling (RSA) sector contributes £538 million to the economy and supports 19,000 jobs but get no grants or financial support from the EU or Government.

He said: "Recreational sea angling is a sustainable way of catching fish, as it does not involve trawling which kills undersized fish and can damage the sea bed so much that the whole ecosystem's productivity is destroyed.

"Only fish which are required for personal consumption are taken by recreational anglers.

"The commercial fishing has made some progress to improve its environmental performance, but there is still widespread damage being caused and illegal fishing is common."

John Brooks, a Cornish regional member of the trust, said the organisation was looking into what actions it could take in response to the sentence.

A spokesman for the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA), which investigated the W Stevenson and Sons scam, said it could not comment on the outcome of the case as it was brought jointly by Defra and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

However, a spokesman for Defra said he believed it was a matter for the MFA.