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fines for no licences


Guest dave k

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Guest Steve Burke
Originally posted by kingfisher:

I still think that you should not need a licence to hunt and catch your own food.I enjoy the odd carp for a meal and the occasional bream is a treat so why be penalised for providing your family with food?

 

 

I trust you're talking about river fish here. These are considered in law to be wild and may be taken for the table, always provided that your contract with the owner(i.e. the fishery rules) doesn't expressly forbid it. Otherwise, except in tidal rivers where different laws usually apply, you can be prosecuted under the Theft Act.

 

On stillwaters all fish belong to the water owner. Thus taking away the fish is always theft, unless you're expressly been given permission by the owner to do so.

 

I'm not against the taking of the odd fish for the table myself; I'm just pointed out that you could, rightly, be in legal trouble if you do so without permission.

 

The reason that there is a difference between stillwaters at one extreme and the sea at the other is that at sea the fish are free to roam anywhere in the world. Most stillwaters are owned by one person and the fish can't escape to another person's property. Rivers come somewhere in between, and of course species like salmon can swim out to sea.

 

Many stillwaters (like mine) are stocked at great expense by the owner. The bigger fish are subsequently worth a great deal of money. Hence the legal restrictions on taking fish without permission. Imagine the consequences of the captor of a record carp killing it or even moving it to a different water!

 

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Wingham Fisheries

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

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Guest kingfisher

If I take a fish from water that passes through common land or from a bridge on a public highway, I,m not breaking the law? nor am I if I have the permission from the person who owns the land which the water passes. Then why should I have to have a licence to fish? I hunt rabbits, squirrels and some birds without needing a licence so I'm not going to get one for my supply of food!!!By the way what is classed as a record fish just by its size? the best record of fish I have taken for food is 3 carp one 8lb one 12 1/2lb and one that was well over 20lb is that a record?

 

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J. King.

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Guest Nightwing

Me thinks Kingfisher may be doing some chain pulling here:-D

Anyway, our DNR(Department of Natural Resources) here in Michigan does not screw around with illegal fishing. Our license is cheap($14), but if you don't buy it, it is up to a $1,500 fine, possible loss of gear, and up to 3 years loss of fishing rights!

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Originally posted by kingfisher:

... I hunt rabbits, squirrels and some birds without needing a licence ...

 

Interesting. I'm surprised that a country as regulated as the UK does not require a license for hunting - and especially for game that is good to eat. Is there actually open/public land where one can hunt over there w/o permissions or anything?

 

kingfisher - if you are trying for windups (as several of your posts suggest) you might go a little lighter. The "hit em with a club" approach does not seem to be raising much of a response for you. eek.gif

 

As for nightwing, me, and a few others from countries where fish for the table is very common, I doubt that talk of taking fish for the table (even if you pick ones that aren't very good eating) will stir much.

 

The several responses you have had from UK posters were mild also as they were from folks who are (as we say over here in the colonies) "very hard to bait". biggrin.gif

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Guest Steve Burke
Originally posted by kingfisher:

If I take a fish from water that passes through common land or from a bridge on a public highway, I,m not breaking the law?  nor am I if I have the permission from the person who owns the land which the water passes. Then why should I have to have a licence to fish? I hunt rabbits, squirrels and some birds without needing a licence so I'm not going to get one for my supply of food!!!By the way what is classed as a record fish just by its size? the best record of fish I have taken for food is 3 carp one 8lb one 12 1/2lb and one that was well over 20lb is that a record?

 

 

Kingfisher, the following two quotes come from "Angling and the Law" by R.I.Millichamp:

 

"Pond fisheries found on common land are not open to the public at large but belong to the commoners - the local community with ancient rights to do such things as fish, graze sheep or cattle, cut peat etc".

 

"A bridge which crosses a canal or river also crosses the fishing rights associated with the watercourse at that point; therefore, to fish from the bridge without the permission of the relevant owner or tenant of the fishery is an offence under Schedule 1 of the Theft Act."

 

The book, which I highly recommend, points out that you could also be prosecuted with an obstruction of the highway or railway, and possibly an infringement of navigation byelaws.

 

As far as your catch being a record I have no idea. I doubt that many would own up to taking 20lb+ carp as food for fear of incurring the displeasure of other anglers!

 

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Wingham Fisheries

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

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Guest Cranfield

Steve, You are being too kind.

 

I suggest that we treat kingfishers comments with the contempt that they deserve.

If we are lucky he will go away.

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Guest phil dean

interesting point re the theft act steve,

 

Theft being "the appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention to permenantly deprive" or similar...couldn't be bothered to check but that is the gist of it, now if you catch a fish intending to put it back, the fish dies (deep hooking for example) you should either put it back, even though it's dead, or leave it at the side.

 

Now say that fish were a trout, personally, I would have taken it......but that would be theft.

 

Throw it back? well that can be bad news for anglers if we get accused of killing fish and throwing them back, and worse still if you chuck it up the bank to rot.

 

What would most people do in that situation? (other than fisherking who I assume likes the taste of a muddy old twenty pound carp....yach!!!, in countries like this where they can't breed naturally, they're better off back in the water for me.)

 

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phil,

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Guest kingfisher

As you can see I'm no expert on the law as regards fishing for food.So lets get back to the thread about licences, if I own my own stretch of river and I have not let the fishing rights out to someone else am I allowed to take fish from this river whether it is good to eat or not (different people have different tastes), if so why should I have to but a bloody licence.The Rivers Authority don't do any thing for me. And one more thing do water ballifs have the right to go on my land without my permission?

 

 

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J. King.

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Guest TheDacer

As far as I am aware, you'd still need a licence in the UK to take fish even from a stretch of river which you owned.

 

I don't know if this is the same with stillwaters?

 

The fish in a river, unless it is netted at each end of a stretch - and I don't know of any stretch which is - do not really 'belong' to anyone. (The fishing rights do). So the fish are not yours in the same sense that they would be in a stillwater.

 

Guess that would be why you'd need a licence to take them? As they may well have been stocked by the EA.

 

The UK is a terribly over-regulated country. But even if you're very poor what's the problem with paying £20 a year?

 

That's about 40p a week. The price of one nasty loaf of bread. wink.gif

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Guest phil hackett
Originally posted by kingfisher:

 

 

Every village has one doesn’t it!

 

“The Agency does nothing for me.” I think they do! Prosecuting river polluters, checking the water quality, fish sampling and survey work, stocking and making good the holes in the stock profile, 24 7 365 nationwide callout for fish rescues and pollution incidents, free fisheries advice, on and on it goes.

 

"And one more thing……..bailiffs……..my land?"

I think you’ll find they do, if they suspect that a person on it is transgressing the law, as they have the “power of constable,” i.e., they have the same power as a police officer when it comes down to the water environment.

 

I dearly hope this assists you in the understanding of these very complicated issues.

 

P.S. You didn’t say where you go fishing, so as we can arrange a personal visit for you from a staff member of the agency, to explain in more detail the work they do.

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