last night at the local fisheries consultative it was agreed to set up a "river watch" system. basically this is to keep an eye out for illegal fishing, set lines fisk killing etc. the idea being that there will be one focal point for all these reports which will be forwarded straight to the EA for enforcement or alternative action being taken.

also there will be a coordinator for the area whose job it is to gather these reports and action them and to monitor what action has been taken on them. bet you can guess whats coming....

yes for my sins, i am that person, so if there are any guys in the fen system spot anything like this going on then please can you contact me asap and action will be taken (i hope!)

my contact details are:

tel 07960 533392 (24/7)

email: wit6372@aol.com


obviously this is very much inthe embrionic stage, but hopefully if we work together then we might be able to put an end to the problems currently occurring in the region.

Guests - this sponsored link will vanish when you log-in. Click here to register for free.

Well thankfully i havent witnessed anything like that to date,and hope i never come across it,Its nice to see a system like this being put in place. anything other than the obvious that i can do to help drop me a line.

Mark - good on ya for being willing to take this on. Sounds like an excellent idea.

cheers newt, god knows what i have let myself in for though!!!

Yes, nice one Mark. Well done.

We have a 'Broad watch' scheme up this way! It seems to work well and I wish your scheme success Mark. Unfortunately we can't get 'official' support because of insurence & liability problems. Our local EA have made it clear that they will only prosecute when one of their staff is present. However a presence on the bank does no harm.

[ 28. September 2004, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

If you have the courage anyone with a valid licence can ask to see the licence of another Angler, but what you do then, if they don't have one???????

Oh by the way can I also wish you every success.

[ 28. September 2004, 11:33 PM: Message edited by: Nugg ]

one of those sh1tty jobs that someone has to do! well done mark

i kind of get the feeling that one of the reasons that i was asked to do it was because i will go and ask people, but then i am 6 feet 2 and over twenty stone, so people think twice about having a pop!!!!

its funny because although i had heard of the problems in the area, i hadnt met it first hand till this saturday gone. when i came across four foreign anglers from one of the local farms. all of em spinning for pike and one with a pike he had just caught, who when he saw me threw it into the bushes. he was told in no uncertain terms to put it back, and he did. then i mentioned rod licenses and the old "dont speak english" came out. well seeing as he had understood exactly whast i said earlier i just told them that if they werent gone in 5 minutes i would be ringing the EA and the fine would be about £400.

they were gone in 2!!!

Hello all, new to this site so bear with me, LOL.
Was drawn to this post and its nice to see the rivers still have friends.
What about the eel netting? After speaking to 2 EA officers the other day it seems that the eel netting is a bigger problem than alot realise, me included. Being told that they are netting then shifting our eels to not just Holland, but places like China etc and to London restaurants that seem to be now adding eel to the menu's. Instead of the eel being looked after, it seems to of blown right up!
They put the nets in late evening, take em out next morning, we never see it happen. Ok we might see the odd eel net thats been forgotten about or lost, where fish get trapped, then die. Or the nets that get purposely left out for bream and tench to stock commercial venues that won't pay the prices of farmed fish or want a quick fix of large fish.
If you need any help Mark, I'll do what I can, people like you need support. Good on yer mate!