April 3, 2014 — Mark Powell, 44, from Penryn in Cornwall, admitted 14 offences of fishing in an illegal area and 14 of failing to submit landing declarations.
Over five months, he made £428,289 from the fishing using his vessel The Golden Fleece II, Swansea Crown Court heard.
Three other members of his family – parents Andrea and Clinton, and wife Lisa Powell, were fined £1,000 each.
Scallop dredging in parts of Cardigan Bay was banned in 2010. The shellfish can retail between £15 and more than £30 a kilo, depending on the season.
Powell carried out the illegal fishing between October 2011 and March 2012.
Prosecutor James Subbiani said Powell's boat, a state-of-the-art scallop dredger, was boarded by marine enforcement officers carrying out a routine patrol at 03:50 GMT on 20 March, 2012, following a radio contact in which the fishermen accepted he was fishing for scallops.
The officers then contacted Welsh government fisheries officers and the decision was made to take the vessel, with its skipper Powell, into Milford Haven.
Read the full story at BBC News