Fish Legal Wins Damages For Severe Agricultural Pollution

[Elton]

Full details here:

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/News/fish-legal-160109.html

[Leon Roskilly]

Although criminal prosecutions can be bought for causing pollution, any fines handed down by the courts can usually be shrugged off.

 

But it's when claims for damages are successfully pursued through the civil courts that the polluters' pockets can be badly hit.

 

The knowledge that causing pollution affecting a watercourse could result in such claims, by angling clubs backed by Fish Legal, is the real deterrent to criminally reckless behaviour.

 

So although it's good to see Fish Legal winning a case for pollution caused, it's the amount of pollution that doesn't occur because of the existence of Fish Legal that is the real success of angling and the anglers who finance the work of Fish Legal.

 

Remember too, that pollution entering the watercourse often has both primary and secondary effects far down the watercourse, and into the water table and the lakes, even down to the estuary nursery and feeding areas of marine fish, and out to the deeper sea, so anglers who are not directly impacted by any particular incident have much to thank Fish Legal for in the maintenance of healthy fisheries, whether freshwater or marine.

Edited January 17, 2009 by Leon Roskilly

[Bob Bradford]

Hear, Hear, Leon, it is always nice when anglers get a service they are prepared to pay for, the old ACA, now Fish Legal, have a glorious and successful history of fighting the polluters of Britain's waterways, they are worth £20 membership fee per annum alone, how some anglers can argue against joining them is surprising to say the least!

[dutch1862]

That's good news, particularly with Grantham being relatively close to me. And good to hear that prosecutions can be made against people in that kind of situation, although the full facts aren't in that article it does sound like a feeble excuse.

 

And agree that's worth £20 a year if it helps discourage polluters or even just makes farmers more careful about where chemicals are being stored.

[chesters1]

they aint going to stock 10 miles of river for 6 grand

[Anderoo]

Hear, Hear, Leon, it is always nice when anglers get a service they are prepared to pay for, the old ACA, now Fish Legal, have a glorious and successful history of fighting the polluters of Britain's waterways, they are worth £20 membership fee per annum alone, how some anglers can argue against joining them is surprising to say the least!

 

I agree with that 100% Bob