TWO fishermen brothers say they are ‘gutted’ by the theft of £700 of lobster creels from the waters off Ardrossan.

Tom and Aron Bryson have been fishing from Ardrossan Marina for the past two years and have been building up a fledgling business supplying several local restaurants with sustainably caught lobsters and crabs.

On Sunday, August 24, the men set their full fleet of 10 creels near West Kilbride from their boat the Kara Louise – but when they returned the following Wednesday to lift them they had all disappeared.

The Brysons fish the waters from Saltcoats up to Portencross and Little Cumbrae.

Aron, 25, said: “Obviously we were gutted. We’ve put a lot of work into the business.

“It’s not a common occurrence but it can happen.” The brothers started out by making their first lobster creel from bits and pieces of scrap material they found lying about in their garage at home and caught their first lobster using their father’s boat.

They then moved up to five creels and began to catch more and more lobsters.

“We were eating really well on the barbecues,” said Aron. “We really love fishing.

"We’ve been fishing since we were boys from the shore and with crab lines.” Tom, 31, added: “We have reported it to the police, however, as a former police officer, I am aware that there is very little that can be done especially with no evidence.

“We love what we do, and we have put an immense amount of work into our business.

“Everything we’ve been making is going back into the business so that’s why it’s gutting for this to happen. It saddens us that there are still people out there who help themselves to other people’s property.” A spokesperson for the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation said: “I have never heard of such a thing. Most fisherman wouldn’t dream of stealing another fisherman’s creels.” Police Scotland confirmed that a report was received regarding the theft of lobster pots from the sea near to West Kilbride Golf Club between 6pm on August 24 when the pots were set and 9am on August 27 when the complainer returned to collect them.” Inquiries are being carried out by officers from Largs.