There is a lot of money to be made by going over the quotas. The price of fish is kept artificially high with the quota system. Boats are only allowed to land certain types of fish in set quantities at set times of the year.
So any that they can land makes more profit for wholesalers as they have extra to sell on. They can buy at a cheaper rate because they are "black" fish and make a bigger profit. A bit of book cookery and huge money can be made, especially by smaller family firms.
The skipper and crew make money, in their pockets, because they claim that they only landed their quota and sold it at whatever price per box. The extra "black" fish become free money which the taxman don't see. In fact the UK taxman gets very little from the fishing industry. Boats are registered as limited companies and owned off shore. Then they are rented by the off shore company to the skipper and crew. They have an agreement that if they are "out of the country" for a set number of days each year then they are classed as "non resident" for UK tax purposes. If boats are tied up by going over quota too quickly it can cost a crew a fortune in tax as they are onshore. Many register themselves "off shore" and nip over to the Isle of Man or Eire for a few days if a boat is in harbour too long.
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