illegal gill netting

[Tel]

hi,

 

has anybody got any phone numbers of people that can be contacted, if you suspect illegal netting or trawler fishing practices?

 

I used to have the phone numbers of regional fishery offices but cant find them.

 

also it would help other anglers be aware of who to contact, if you suspect illegal netting.

 

cheers,

 

Tel

[Tel]

if you go to http://www.defra.gov.uk there is a list of regional coastal offices under fisheries.

 

if you find your regional area and put there phone number in your mobile, you will be able to report any suspicious nets and trawling activities instantly.

 

if everybody does this then, things will become more difficult for the people who break the law, and hopefully it will help in improving fish stocks.

 

every little helps.

 

Tel

[Leon Roskilly]

Try here:

 

http://anglersnet.co.uk/sacn/comms.htm

 

Tight Lines - leon (SACN)

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/sacn

[Leon Roskilly]

NFSA Advice on Illegal Netting

 

(This information was contained within the NFSA Quarterly Journal Number 24 – December 2001. The journal is distributed to all members, another good reason to take out Individual/Personal NFSA membership – http://www.nfsa.org.uk )

 

Over the years the Head Office has received a number of letters from members with regard to the siting and use of illegal nets around the coast.

 

Our Fisheries Liaison Representative, Malcolm Gilbert, recently posed the following question to Mr Mark Pitcher, his local Environment Agency Fisheries Officer. His reply is informative and will be helpful to readers.

 

Question: If fixed gill nets are being set on the low water mark of beaches within any of the seven areas prescribed in the above legislation, I take it that in view of the head lines inevitably being on the surface and most certainly not more than three metres below the surface at all states of the tide, these nets would be illegal. If this is the case, please can you suggest the most appropriate action to be taken in the event that one witnesses nets being used in this manner?

 

Response from the Environment Agency and the law relating to the Cornwall Sea Fisheries District Fixed Engine Byelaw 1987.

 

Any fixed net (even if unattended) set such that the head line is within 3 metres of the surface, at any state of the tide, is illegal under the Cornwall Fixed Engine Byelaw 1987 which was made for the purpose of section 6 of the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

 

Many people target bass using these nets off beaches, setting them at low water using slate anchors etc and letting them fish the tide up with surface floats as the bass move up the beach.

 

The reason the nets are illegal under byelaw is not that they target bass, but that the manner in which they are set has been proven to interfere with (catch) migratory salmonoids, which use certain bays and headland areas on their journey to the spawning grounds in the headwaters of our rivers.

 

We have records of salmon and sea trout being caught in illegal nets in St Ives Bay, so we know that it happens.

 

Also, irrespective of the type of net used (legal or illegal) it is an offence to retain salmon or sea trout in any net, in any area of the sea, if the person is not licensed to capture salmon or sea trout.

 

The same is true for salmon or sea trout caught from the sea on rod and line.

 

A legal net used, in which salmon or sea trout are captured and retained, becomes an unlicensed instrument. We had a case of this recently in the River Camel estuary.

 

Nets which can be used in the restricted netting areas include beach seines for sea fish, drift nets for sea fish as long as they are free to move and attended at all times, and nets with a head rope below 3 metres of the surface of the sea.

 

A net shot as a ring net from a boat is legal within the restricted areas outside of the estuaries as long as it is not fixed by anchors or in any other way, and is attended during the shooting and hauling.

 

Any salmon or sea trout caught accidentally must be returned, even if dead.

 

As to what to do when you see an illegal net, there are the following options:

 

1. Phone our incident line 0800 80 70 60 seven days a week, 24 hours a day, as soon as possible. The call will be put through to the officer closest to the incident and who is on duty. We will try our best to attend and seize the net and prosecute the people setting the net.

 

2. Call the local police for assistance so that they can detain the people setting the net until we arrive. If this is not possible, the police can caution the offenders, take their names and addresses and pass them to me. We will then contact the offenders and interview them under caution. The police can seize the net, boat etc but most PCs are not fully aware of fisheries law and the best we can hope for is the verified name and addresses of the offenders. I will contact the local officer in St Ives and inform him of the type of offence to look out for.

 

3. Contact Eddie Derriman as the offence will also be a breach of Cornwall Sea Fisheries Byelaw. Eddie will be under resource constraints, like me, but it might be worth a try.

 

4. Let me have details about the site, the type of net used, the tide and times fished. I will place some resources on covert observation and hope to catch the culprits at it.

 

NB – This advice obviously relates to the Cornwall Environment Agency, and the by-laws in place within Cornwall. However the same principles for reporting incidents would apply in each area.

 

Your local Environment Agency and Sea Fisheries contacts will be listed in your local telephone directory – there is a list of Sea Fisheries Committees within the SACN web pages.

 

-------------------------------------------------

Environment Agency Press Release. August 3rd 2001

 

Thousands of dead fish discovered in anti-poaching patrol.

 

During an anti-poaching patrol in Plymouth last night the Environment Agency seized an illegally set fishing net that yielded over one and a half tons of dead fish.

 

It is the largest amount of dead fish the Agency has ever seized in an operation of this kind in the Agency¹s Cornwall Area, which covers Plymouth and West Devon.

 

Agency fisheries officers were alerted to the net by local police during a night patrol on the estuary of the River Plym. The would-be poachers set a kilometre long monofilament gill net across the mouth of the estuary that had snared about 1.5 tons of mullet, 150 bass, hundreds of shore crabs, 5 sea trout and 1 salmon.

 

The sea trout were released alive but the bass, mullet, salmon and crabs had all died.

 

The estuary of the Plym is a designated nursery area for bass and it is illegal to set any fixed nets for any kind of fish in this area. The loss of such a large amount of fish will have a significant impact on local stocks in this vulnerable and important area.

 

Anyone caught poaching can face a significant fine and also risks having nets, boats and vehicles seized. If any local people have information that might help trace the culprits they can call the Environment Agency¹s free, 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

 

"Poaching is a real threat to the well-being of our rivers," said Mark Pilcher, Fisheries team leader for the Environment Agency.

 

"It is very hard to catch people in the act but we can take some satisfaction that no-one will profit from this massive haul."

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Vicious Circle

 

Sea Fishery and EA resources stretched, laughable fines imposed by magistrates, illegal nets not reported.

 

Magistrates see very few cases bought before them. There obviously isn’t much of a problem requiring the deterrence of exemplary penalties. The defence’s argument that the authorities are out to make it difficult for a hard working fisherman, daily facing the sea’s dangers to scrape a living and feed his family, by prosecuting him for a mere technical offence gets some sympathy.

 

The prosecuting authorities, overstretched and underfunded, know just how much serious damage illegal netting does to the environment, and to the ecology of the places where they are set. And they know just how much this activity contributes to the decline of fish stocks and the ability of honest fishermen to make a reasonable living, and to continue fishing on the right side of the law. But they have lots of other areas to police with their scarce resources. And no one is making much fuss about the problem – it’s difficult to justify allocating resources to a problem when few complaints are made.

 

Anglers sometimes see the nets, curse and moan, but in most cases can’t even be bothered to call the EA on the free emergency help line, let alone write a few letters to their MP, local sea fishery committee etc.,

 

'Someone, should be doing something about this surely? Why don’t they get on with it? After all, what do we pay them for?'

 

Anyone for another round?

 

 

Tight Lines – Leon Roskilly

Sea Anglers’ Conservation Network (SACN)

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/sacn/

[Davey B]

Thanks for taking the time to dig that lot out Leon

[spasor]

Hello Leon,Tel and Davey B.

When is a netter illegal?

I`ve just spent 6 days to and from Weymouth and Dartmouth. We had to keep a constant watch for net bouys. Which are illegal?

I can lose count of the number of nets outside Poole harbour.

Outside of most ports, anglers can say the same?

Which ones do we report? Local fishery inspectors don`t want to know!! Why waste precious diesel to to find no-one claims the net is my latest reply from fishery protection.

:mad: Paul. :mad:

[Davey B]

Spasar - Did you see the ones *just* on the harbour entrance to Dartmouth? Set up a watch every time we traveled, just because the b*stards might snag us. How was fishing BTW?

[Davey B]

PS: I have a very big knife, so be very aware, very aware

[rufus]

Interesting to note from the above post that the authorities are really only interesting in apprehending those who poach salmonoids. Even more startling is the thought that I must return, dead or alive, any salmon or sea trout that I might catch 'accidently' whilst fishing for bass. What are the bylaws set up to deal with?

From what I can gather it looks like they are there to protect just one thing... the run of game fish into the upper reaches of select river systems and the interests of those well connected enough to fish for them. What I dont see is any consideration given to the interests of the sea angler.

[Leon Roskilly]

rufus:

What I dont see is any consideration given to the interests of the sea angler.

It took Foot and Mouth to wake the authorities up that Leisure and Tourism (including angling) are the real business of today's countryside. Food production is a minor industry of the rural economy.

 

An investigation by CEFAS back in the late '80s early '90s valued the landed catch of bass in the UK at around £3million, Recreational bass angling at £19million.

 

An recent investigation by Nautilus Consultants in South Wales puts the value of the inshore commercial fishery at £8million, Recreational angling at £28million.

 

Trouble is that few officials/politicians are aware of the value of recreational angling, and find it hard to believe when told that the recreational sector is far more important than the commercial sector.

 

After all of their lives they have been working on the premise that their job is to protect the livelihoods of the hard done by fishermen, their families and their communities. Whereas anglers are just a few blokes out enjoying themselves.

 

And no one is telling them different.

 

Certainly, their postbags aren't straining under the weight of letters from anglers.

 

Jim Donofrio of the RFA http://www.savefish.com , speaking in London last week, pointed out that 'It's not about science, it's about politics!'

 

The RFA produces a sticker 'I Fish - I Vote'

 

No one is going to listen to you unless you say something to them. And it ain't no good moaning to anglers, they will agree with you but can do p*** all about it.

 

Becoming a nuisance to those that can is the only way to bring about change, especially when lots and lots of us start doing that.

 

Tight Lines - Leon Roskilly

Sea Anglers' Conservation Network (SACN)

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/sacn/

 

ps Paying a tenner to join the NFSA, supporting their new conservation initiative will help. http://www.nfsa.org.uk/membership/membership1.htm

 

[ 01. October 2002, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]