Environment Agency News Release

Yesterday, Monday 16 March 2009, Gloucester men Lee Aaron Francis, age 27 years of Quedgley, Nathan Francis age 21 years also of Quedgely, and Karl Anthony Palmer, aged 23 years of Saul, each pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court to a charge relating to illegal fishing for elvers.

The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act. All three defendants were sentenced to a 6-week curfew order, effective between 20.00hrs and 07.00hrs each night, and ordered to pay £339.24 towards costs. The court also confiscated the nets they had been using illegally at the time of the offence.

For the Environment Agency, Romilly Edge told the court that, as the Government body responsible for enforcing and regulating fisheries legislation, the Environment Agency regularly inspects the elver fishery on the River Severn, to ensure that fishermen possess a valid licence, and are operating legally.

Elver fishing can be very lucrative, with elvers currently fetching in the region of £250 per kilo. At their peak in 2005, prices reached £525 per kilo.

In order to comply with legislation elver fishermen must have a valid elver fishing licence, which, at the time of the offence, cost £69 per year. There are also legal restrictions on the equipment they can use. They must not use a net with a frame size greater than 1.25 metres long by 1.0 metre wide, by 1.0 metre deep. A larger net gives an unfair advantage, enabling them to catch more than their fair share and reducing the number of elvers that can escape into lakes and rivers.

On 12 March 2008, the three defendants were seen using an illegally large net on the River Severn at the Pridings, Gloucestershire. When challenged by the bailiff they admitted that they owned the net jointly and that they did not have elver fishing licences. A bailiff cautioned the men and seized two nets, the illegally large net and a dip net, as evidence.

Speaking after the case, Environmental Crime Team Leader, Al Watson, said: “Fishing for elvers in this way is not only illegal but it is severely damaging to eel stocks. Many elver fishermen fish legally on the River Severn, but to do so without a licence and using illegal nets shows a total disregard for fellow fishermen, the law and the future of this species.“

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