Caught Red-Handed

[Excalibur]

Is it just me? (it usually is! )But sceptical type that I am, Bruno's use of the word hypothetical, and the graemlin which follows leads me to believe that he may possibly be alluding to a less than totally hypothetical case. Or is is just me seeing Reds under the bed?

IMHO moving fish like this warrants the most serious penalty available.

 

Nurse Judy,I may be wrong, but I think many carp were imported from Eastern Europe hundreds of years ago. I think that the Romans also may have done a bit of fish moving, but I stand to be corrected on both points.

[davidP]

Fish returned, vehicle and equipment confiscated, prosecution for theft and any broken fish-transport laws in foreign country then prosecution for attempted illegal import here. Naming and shaming in all Angling press. I think that about covers it.

[Bruno Broughton]

The core of this issue is not what has happened in the past; it IS what effect new imports will have on the carp (and other fish) already here.

 

Notwithstanding the illegality of stealing fish, illegal imports jeopardise just about all of the carp in the UK. Make no mistake: the effect of SVC - in particular - can be devastating, and some mortalities can be 100%, even if just one or two hooky fish are stocked into a venue. And as SVC is endemic in many mainland European countries, but not here, it should be pretty obvious why an SVC outbreak occurs in a UK fishery.

 

Dunk - the 'Spring carp Mortality Syndrome' was a convenient name given to mysterious carp deaths that the EA and MAFF/CEFAS could not attribute to SVC or any other cause. Most fish die as if in a trance, with no external symptoms, which can also be the case with SVC. My guess has always been that another virus was at work, although carp deaths due to diets comprising large quantities of high protein, high oil food (e.g. some trout pellets) can also fail to show any true symptoms.

 

Excalibur - any oblique reference I made to the rumour mill (which is on full churn over this issue) was entirely deliberate!

 

[ 14. November 2002, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: Bruno Broughton ]

[Alan Fawcett]

OOPS just realised i forgot to add that the diamond wire should be tightly wrapped around the tack for it to work correctly.

 

Any carp carp that are of the "king carp" genre are imports, brought to Britain to be bred for food.

 

Methinks Bruno maybe refering to the case in the angling comics a few weeks back, where Ian Chilcott of ECHO reported a planned fish theft from a french lake, when the police arrived at the lake they discovered a lot of carp sacked up ready to be collected. (i may be wrong of course )

[phonebush]

Bruno,

Another American view other than Newts. We are talking the 21st century. The crime while not viewed by many to be henious should be punished in direct correlation to the potential economic loss. Unable to pay? Jail time equal to the pay a prisioner would receive daily.

In the US punishment for ecological disruption is so lax it is worthwhile to attempt a profit from illegal acts against the law and nature. An example that comes to mind is the harvest of protected turtles from the gulf that bring 100's of dollars per pound but the maximum penality is only a couple hundred dollars and even then very hard to prosecute.

Phone

[Bruno Broughton]

Phone

 

It's not THAT different here, but it is getting better. Jack the Lad's act of stealing a few fish is now becoming regarded as environmental crime (as it should), with appropriate penalties that should ensure that only the daftest petty criminal will take the risk. At least, that's the hope.

 

I'm a bit surprised that things haven't progressed in the US. Certainly, when I travelled there each year to carp fish in tucked away places, my friendly brushes with the law indicated fierce penalties. For example, I was apprehended by an armed wildlife official (probably state, not Fed) at a remote beach on Lake Havasu. He had been tipped off that I was there by the local neighbourhood watch ('strange car = possible crime, so phone the Freecall report number'). Once I had persuaded him I was not armed and dangerous, he recounted the tale of taking a handcuffed prisoner from Grand Canyon State Park to some jail 100s of miles away earlier that week. The bloke's alleged crime was hunting (shooting) furry animals without a licence.

 

There's something about talking to a park ranger ('parkie' in the UK) who carries handcuffs and a revolver that makes you want to say 'Yes, Sir' every other sentence.

[Dunk Fairley]

thanks bruno.

 

I agree that perpetrators should be named and shamed. the problem with that is, after a while, the shame seems to evaporate and the villains can carry on fishing/stealing like before.

 

Perhaps the punishment should be made to fit the crime. The thieves should be wrapped in sacks, submerged in shallow tanks, taken overseas and dumped in a lake somewhere far from home.

[phonebush]

Bruno,

EVERYONE carries a gun in the US LOL

Even I am scared of the "parkies"

They would rather intimidate an someone like you than tangle with the really "bad" guys. Will you be coming to Lake Mead with the Englis contingent in 2002?

Phone

[Bruno Broughton]

phonebush:

Will you be coming to Lake Mead with the Englis contingent in 2002?

Phone

Not sure to what you are referring. However, my idea of Hell would be a 'group trip' to anywhere, especially if it is organised. I far prefer to fish alone or with a friend, do my own thing and catch the fish on my own terms.

 

In my experience, Lake Mead carp fishing will be a wash-out unless you fish (illegally) next to the boat docks, where the popcorn and food-scap fed carp go to 25lb+; half-a-mile or more away from 'em (legal), a 10-pounder would be a cracker.

 

Gimme a boat on Bald Eagle Lake (northern outskirts of Minneapolis) for two weeks and I would be a far happier man!

 

Actually, my next planned trip in the sequence a few years ago was to Iowa, Arkansas & Missouri. I ought to do it, but time is the limiting factor.

 

[ 18. November 2002, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: Bruno Broughton ]