The captain of a fishing boat has been slapped with a €6,000 fine after failing to inform authorities that he was heading to Harbour with two large bluefin tuna on board.

Anthony Joseph Caci, who is in charge of the Libya-flagged fishing trawler Al Safa IV was charged with with failing to notify the authorities of his catch as well as making a false declaration to the Fisheries Department.

Davide Cappitta, the Maltese director of the company he caught the fish for - Ocean Bound Trading - was also charged with passing on false information to the authorities.

The trawler uses purse seine nets to round up the fish it had caught and transfer them into a cage which is then towed to fish farms. Often during the transfer process, some fish die and must still be accounted for.

The trawler failed to inform the the authorities that they were entering Maltese territorial waters with fish aboard. It is understood that Mr Caci, a French national, had entered the 120 kilogrammes' worth of bluefin tuna in his logbook but did not declare them to the local authorities as he had not yet applied for the electronic bluefin catch document from the vessel’s flag state.

Lawyers Abigail Galea and Carina Testa entered a guilty plea. Dr Testa told Magistrate Doreen Clarke that the two men had a clean criminal record and that the amount of fish was a small one.

Mr Caci was fined €6,000 while Mr Cappitta was handed a €1,000 fine.

Inspector Daryl Borg prosecuted.