Bass Illegal Nets

[John E Ashford]

Bass Illegal Nets

 

When shore fishing, around the UK, if I come across fixed netting up and down the beach.

 

How do I know if it is illegal?

 

If someone is attending the nets, do I approach them?

 

Is there a phone number I can contact, and hopefully get a quick response?

[Leon Roskilly]

Since You've asked

 

The right to fish, and to carry out activities ancillary to fishing, are enshrined in Magna Carta, and are often quoted by angling authorities when countering the imposition of bait digging bans etc.

 

However, Magna Carta was drawn up long before sea angling was popular and these laws were originally introduced to preserve the right of anyone to take food from the sea.

 

As a result, whether you are using a net or a fishing rod, you do not need a licence to fish.

 

What is illegal is to sell your catch if it is caught using an unlicensed powered vessel.

 

So, any fish caught from the beach, or from an unpowered vessel (oars or sails), can be sold, regardless of whether the vessel is licensed or not, or whether the fish have been caught by hook, or by net.

 

(Only the owner of a licensed power vessel has the right to sell the catch. If anglers charter a licensed fishing vessel, they cannot individually sell their catch, but they can leave the catch with the skipper to be sold ‘by the boat’)

 

There are some exceptions to that. You are not allowed to fish from a vessel in bass nursery areas for instance, or to land or be in possession of undersized fish, or to use certain types of gear in certain areas. (The local SFC should be able to provide full regulations pertaining to the local area).

 

Some areas have regulations against the setting of ‘fixed engines’ (ie gill nets), designed to protect migratory salmon and sea trout, dealing with the depth that the net is set.

 

Most of these regulations served their purpose when there were plenty of fish for all, and gear was difficult to employ. Old-fashioned multi-strand gill netting was relatively expensive and became quite heavy when waterlogged.

 

Now, monofilament netting, is both cheap and light, coming out of the water weighing the same as when it went in. That means that 100yds of netting is paid for by taking 4 or 5 decent sized bass, and a man alone, fishing from a small boat, can easily deploy kilometres of netting during a tide.

 

In some areas, many miles of netting is legally deployed by unlicensed fishermen, close inshore, and the catch is sold illicitly.

 

Clearly the regulations need to be updated.

 

The NFSA are campaigning against the use of unlicensed gill-nets, and are supported in that campaign by licensed fisherman.

 

Existing regulations, such as they are, are enforced by the Environment Agency in estuaries, mainly for the purpose of protecting migratory salmon and trout, and by the Sea Fisheries Committees, out to the six mile limit (currently, but possibly being extended to 12 miles und new CFP legislation). (note: the EA can be contacted on their free hotline 0800 807 060 to report pollution and illegal fishing – load it to your mobile now!)

 

The Sea Fisheries Committees were first established in the late 19th century, for the purpose of developing and regulating the inshore commercial fisheries, at a time when the seas were regarded as being inexhaustible.

 

They are financed by local councils (who often do not have a great interest in fisheries, and so are reluctant to provide proper funding for fisheries enforcement) and are made up largely of representatives of the commercial fishing community or those with an interest in maintaining fish markets and processing.

 

Generally, they are sympathetic to the plight of local fishermen and will endeavour to assist them, rather than to make life difficult for them.

 

Each SFC has a DEFRA appointed representative who is responsible for angling matters, who often is not an angler.

 

A list of Sea Fisheries Committees, containing contact details, web addresses etc can be found at:

 

http://www.defra.gov.uk/fish/industry.htm#sfc

 

(again, put your local SFC telephone number into your mobile now!)

 

It is worth reading the ‘Mission Statement’ that some SFCs have adopted, and note the lack of standardisation as to what each committee regards their role to be.

 

The SFC attitude to Recreational Angling is typified in the following:

 

From the Association of Sea Fisheries Committees of England and Wales response to the Prime Minister’ Strategy Unit Consultation on fisheries

 

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/su/fishconsult.../org/asfcew.pdf

 

‘Sea Anglers undoubtedly contribute to the local (tourism) economy but they also

represent a pressure on fish stocks possibly not less than the local inshore fleet in some areas.

 

Retention of fish by sea anglers (particularly boat anglers) needs to be addressed.

 

The Netherlands Government has recently clamped down on anglers selling their catch at fish auctions.

 

If the Government believes that it is essential to have a viable commercial fishing industry to supply a significant part of the country's diet, then the interests of that commercial fishing industry really ought to take precedence when looking at marine resources, over recreational opportunities and tourism.

 

At the moment the industry does not think that the balance is reasonable.’

 

From an article written by the Chairman of the Devon Sea Fisheries Committee (giving his personal views) in the Marine Conservation Society Magazine

 

‘Even angling is having a large effect on fish stocks. More leisure time, easier access to the sea, light portable boats, reliable outboard engines, echo sounders, GPS navigators and efficient equipment have put into the hands of the angler the ability to fish in a commercial way.

 

Almost one million anglers must have some effect on stocks, yet they have no controls.

 

Recently, here in the Southwest, commercial boats have been limited to 50kg of cod a month, yet the angler can catch and keep what he wants - and some angling boats catch several hundred kilos a trip.

 

It is not just the commercial fisherman affecting stocks!’

 

Again, the NFSA is trying to bring about change within the SFCs addressing these issues, and co-ordinating and informing those SFC representatives ‘responsible’ for angling, but as always it is a question of resources and the support of angler to make this effective.

 

There is currently a government review of fisheries enforcement, whereby the role of the SFCs will be examined, and possibly fundamentally changed. SACN, the NFSA and BASS are amongst the angling interests who have responded to the consultation with their views. Details of the consultation can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/...eview/index.htm

 

Eventually, responses and the outcome will be published there.

 

So, in summary, there is a lot wrong with the present set up, particularly from a sea angler’s point of view.

 

According to the Prime Ministers strategy unit, there are around 1.2 million sea anglers, contribution £1.3 billion to the economy.

 

If just half of sea anglers contributed £10 to the NFSA, that would be a fighting fund of £5million pounds a year, instead the NFSA struggles to pay the bills.

 

Nothing much will change until anglers start to support their campaigning organisations in significant numbers.

 

 

 

Author: Plugger

Date/Time: 12/7/2003 12:44:58 AM

Views: 59

Subject: re: Gill net update...

 

Leon has very aptly expressed all the pertinent points regarding the political situation relating to the rights of a person to fish with a Gill net at commom law and within the byelaws of a Local Sea Fisheries Committee and or the areas of responsibility of the Environment Agency.

 

It is worthwhile considering other aspects of environmental law when considering the impact of a gill netter who dumps the discards of unwanted fish such as LSD's on a foreshore and in unsightly heaps that may rest there for days especialy if neap tides are occurring

 

A call to the Local County Borough Councils Public protection Department with a formal complaint of " Fly Tipping" will engage certain thought processes and create a need for council staff to follow through with specific actions having to be considered.

 

If you take a photograph of the incident which may be contrary to the " Litter Act" or Environment Protection Acts then you may have a more effective way to bring about this netters downfall

 

Additionally, you can always call in total confidence the HM Inland Revenue and report the matter to the " Black Economy Unit", their Tel no is in the phone book or just as effective to the Department of Works and Pensions at Lancaster and give the Vehicle number that is being used to carry out and ply a trade without any declaration.

 

Any angler worth his salt cannot stand by and allow such activity to go unchecked by any of those Govt organisations mentioned above.

 

The EA will investigate any net reported that may possibly be taking or intercept the free passage of salmon or Sea Trout in any tidal waters, not just in estuaries as they have jurisdiction over all foreshores in England & Wales no matter where a net is set within the UK territorial waters limits

 

It may be time for the governing bodies of Sea Angling and Game angling to really get together and work to the aim of the total elimination of coastal gil and drift nets no matter where they occur .

 

That leads me to ask this- Why haven't the NFSA and the Salmon & Trout Association made this their priority over and above competiton fishing ! is there an answer? one really has to wonder or does playing with ones navel have greater satisfaction!

 

We all know that bass netter hit salmon and Sea trout just as badly as the species congregate in the same tidal conditions so why not have a common Goal!

 

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.

 

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

 

Advice given on the North Wales Sea Angling Fishing website

 

http://www.nwsa.ukf.net/

 

 

To report a possible illegality in North Wales BETWEEN BORTH & THE DEE ESTUARY contact;

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY WALES 24 HR MANNED HOT LINE 0800 80 70 60

THIS NUMBER WILL RESPOND TO CALLS REGARDING NETTING IN Bass Nursery sites, any and all coastal areas where bass, salmon & Sea Trout may be taken , Most locations also areas where Bass also congregate in the same locations ( always ask for a response to your complaint at the time of making your report ).

 

Calls to the HOTLINE are dealt with in total confidence Complaints may also be made at any time to the following :-

 

DEFRA Fisheries Office, The Old Vicarage, Newry Street, Holyhead, Anglesey, LL65 1DB

By Telephone; 01407 765757 (24 hour answer phone)

By Fax; 01407 769018

North Western & North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee ( Lancaster HQ)

O1524 68745

 

There is illegal netting on the North Wales coastline. Any gill net on any beach above the low water line in certain named areas is illegal.

 

If you see a net being set to fish, phone the 24hr number immediately - Day or Night! and if a car is involved, please take a note of it's description and registration number as accurately as you can.

 

All calls are dealt with as strictly private and confidential and remain so.

 

Do not be afraid of being wrong - The authorities would rather receive a hundred false alarms than see a Gill Net go without notice.

 

f you truly care about your sport and fish stocks and know of where a gill net is being used or fishing, phone!

 

Only specific sizes of trawlers are allowed within a certain distance of our shores to fish.

 

Within 6 Nautical miles, trawlers up to 45 ft on length are allowed to operate within the North Western & North Wales Sea fisheries Committee area specifically north and east of a line drawn from Rhyl whilst up to a maximum of 50 ft south and west of Rhyl.

 

Beam net trawlers of 70 ft and over (Usually fitted with large beams on each side of the vessel) are not allowed to fish inside the 12 mile limit.

 

Also, if you see beam trawling too close in or if any commercial fleet boat has gone too close to your vessel or is in an out of bounds area, please ring the numbers provided asap, preferably with the name of the boat and its registration number (usually found on the bow or stern).

 

Ask all anglers to act positively at all times to highlight the effect of over exploitation of fish stocks wherever it may occur.

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Additional Information.

 

When an angler suspect that gill nets have been set illegally then they should call the Environment Agency Hotline on line 0800 80 70 60 (load it to your mobile now!) immediately.

 

Even if the nets do not appear to be illegal, if it is likely that they are set anywhere that they might be obstructing a run of sea trout, or salmon, the Environment Agency should be asked to investigate.

 

When reporting incidents to the Environment Agency, it is important that you ask for Update Feedback, and take the name of the person that is taking your call.

 

This will make it much more likely that the call will be recorded and investigated.

 

If, upon investigation, salmon and/or trout are found in the net, the EA will be able to build a case file of incidents for that stretch of coastline, and ultimately require the Sea Fisheries Committee to pass byelaws (24 & 25) which will prohibit gill netting along that stretch. As well as protecting the salmonoids, this will also protect the bass, mullet etc as well.

 

Very often those involved in both legal and illegal netting can be targeted indirectly.

 

If possible, note their vehicle number(s), (is it taxed? report it if not). Try to get pictures of the people involved and their vehicles (but be very aware of your own personal safety).

 

Inform your local tax office that you are concerned that the individuals concerned may not be declaring their income from their netting activities, and alert the benefits agency (there is likely to be a local hotline for reporting suspected benefit cheats).

 

Often, unwanted bycatch is simply dumped on the beach, or in car park bins. That is illegal, and the local council and/or Environment Agency may want to take action against such ‘fly-tipping’.

 

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

 

 

Environment Agency Press Release. August 3rd 2001 (Lots of similar items appear on the EA newsite)

 

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/latest

 

[ 25. February 2004, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[John E Ashford]

Environment Agency Hotline on line 0800 80 70 60 (load it to your mobile now!)

 

Thanks Leon

I think we all should have this number in our mobiles.

[Jim Roper]

I understood that it is illegal to fish 'for Bass' from a boat in the nursery areas but you can fish for other species from a boat in these areas eg Mullet.

You can fish for Bass from the shore in nursery areas.

 

[ 26. February 2004, 08:19 AM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]