The Dutch company which owns the world’s biggest trawler is considering appealing against a €105,000 fine imposed by an Irish court, the Irish Times reports.

Diederik Parlevliet, managing director of fishing trader Parlevliet & Van der Plas, said the captain had been ordered to pay ‘a vastly inappropriate’ fine for a €30 breach of the law, the paper says.

Super trawler Annelies Ilena was stopped by Irish officials in 2013, and on Friday its skipper was fined for failing to record discarded fish and discarding fish which is subject to a quota.

The judge withdrew charges that skipper Gerrit Plug had high-graded the catch to increase its value. This involves keeping the most valuable fish and throwing smaller, less valuable fish back into sea.

The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) said the ruling ‘sends a clear message and a severe warning to anyone engaged in illegal fishing activities.’

The suspicions of Navy and sea fisheries protection officers were raised when they saw large sea-birds apparently eating fish immediately behind the super trawler, the Irish paper says.