Officers Stop Fish Imports at Kent Port

Inspectors from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have reported to the authorities a man from Kent for importing 64 large live carp from France without correct fish health certification. The attempted movement took place at Dover docks during the early hours of Friday, 24 November 2006. This is the latest in a series of successful interceptions of live fish in recent months.

HM Customs officers stopped the man who had no health certificate for the fish, which is required under fish health regulations. In addition, the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI), which is based at Cefas, had not been notified of an intention to import the fish. This is a legal requirement.

Officers from the State Veterinary Service (SVS) at Dover assisted in the operation. The carp, weighing up to 43lbs each, were humanely destroyed.

Samples taken from the consignment are being examined at the Cefas laboratory in Weymouth, Dorset. The FHI checks that such fish do not carry serious fish diseases that could seriously impact on the health of native fish.

Stephen Maidment, a FHI enforcement officer, commented: “Many responsible angling organisations have worked hard to prevent the spread of fish disease. It only takes one such consignment of diseased fish to bring about widespread mortalities at fisheries across the country.

The Cefas spokesman added: “This operation once again illustrates how effectively government agencies are co-operating over the problem of illegal fish imports.”

Notes to editors

1. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment, based at Lowestoft since 1902. It also has laboratories at Burnham-on-Crouch and Weymouth, and a number of other facilities around the UK. It became an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in 1997.
2. The Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI), based at Cefas’ Weymouth laboratory, is dedicated to maintaining and improving fish and shellfish health in England and Wales. Its primary role is to act for Defra and the National Assembly for Wales, Agriculture Department (NAWAD) in undertaking statutory and inspection duties resulting from the EU Fish Health regime and other national legislation in the area of fish and shellfish health.
3. The Inspectorate also licenses and monitors imports of fish and shellfish from other countries and runs an enforcement programme aimed at preventing the illegal importation of these animals.
4. For more about movement controls and enforcement, see Fish Health Inspectorate.
5. Carp were once a common food source in the UK. Now they are popular with the approximately 100,000 UK carp anglers, who “catch and return” millions of fish every year. The carp is the mainstay of a £3.5 billion-a-year angling industry.