A MAN has been found guilty of diving in a controlled area of Portland Harbour.

Alan John White, aged 54 of St George’s Drive in Bournemouth, appeared before Weymouth Magistrates.

He was found guilty of diving in an area of Portland Harbour that is controlled due to shipping operations.

The offence took place on Friday, May 17.

Mark Rowles, deputy harbour master of Portland Harbour said: “My assistant received a telephone call from a fisherman saying he had just gone through the controlled area and saw bubbles coming from the seabed which he believed was a diver.”

Mr Rowles then went to the controlled area between Queen’s Pier and Mulberry Harbour where he saw the bubbles.

White, who was representing himself, argued that the location of the bubbles may have been inaccurate due to depth and tide.

He asked: “Are you aware bubbles from a diver on the surface may not indicate where the divers’ exact locations are?”

PC Darrell Clarke said: “I was called when two divers were seen swimming underwater within a restricted area between Queen’s Pier and Mulberry Harbour.

“I went and waited at Castletown slipway for the divers to come out of the water.”

PC Clarke added: “I had a conversation with the two divers. I spoke to them about diving in a controlled area. Mr White said he didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.

“You were on the right hand side of Mulberry when you should have been on the left.

“Being an instructor you should know where you can and cannot dive.”

PC Clarke explained that information about diving in the controlled area is widely publicised on Portland Harbour’s website.

Defending himself, White told the court he is a diving instructor and has a PADI diving qualification.

He said: “It’s not in a diver’s nature to put themselves in harm’s way. The impact of the case to me is, if I am convicted, that’s the end of my diving career.”

White argued: “You can travel along the margin, that’s what was done here.”

He said the feeling of local divers is that Portland Harbour is ‘over-zealous’ with its policies and regulations on diving.

He added: “What I would like to say is that Mulberry is a highly valuable dive spot. It’s beautiful and a lot of people won’t dive there because it’s so shallow. But you will see more underwater life than you will see anywhere else in the region. That’s why I take people there.”

Summing up the case for the prosecution, Chief Inspector James Grant said: “We believe that the defendant should have been aware there is diving restrictions and if he had taken the relevant steps to do so, he would have known.”

District Judge Stephen Nicholls said that as a diving instructor White had a ‘duty’ to make sure he is aware of which regulations apply and the areas they ‘can and cannot enter’.

White has been given a six-month conditional discharge and has to pay costs of £195 he will also pay a victim surcharge of £20.