Fish thefts.....again!

[Mr Nice]

Has anyone considered just how difficult it would be to net a boat yard /wet shed - (with all the obstructions), covertly, in the dead of night (i.e. dark), on a cold winter's night?? Think about it.......

 

I was discussing this with a friend who works in the fishery stocking/netting business the other day. He finds it laughable, almost impossible & he nets fish for a living.

[Steve Walker]

Couple of points:

 

1. I'm glad to hear that the boatyard is full of fish again, and that whatever happened last year had absolutely no lasting effect on stocks.

 

2. I wonder to what extent keepnet fatalities represent excess mortality caused by the net, as opposed to fish which would have swum away and politely died in private had they been released immediately.

[gozzer]

Hi Budgie, I haven't read the article in AT, (because I fell out with it years ago). I have however trawled through most of the posts on FM. The thing that stuck out most was that the guy from AT, said that it was based on "circumstantial concerns" of a few of their readers. As you say, that means there are no facts that they are aware of, to back up the claims. It's just another publicity stunt to try to grab readers, after all they are getting plenty of publicity. Whether it turns out to be good, or bites them on the backside, remains to be seen. As for them offering money (£10,000?), as someones said, they must be pretty confident that they wont have to pay out. Which in it's self speaks volumes. Anything this paper does, never surprises me, it's been going down hill for years, and I don't think it's bottomed out yet.

[Bob Bradford]

I am surprised after 18 months or so the AT have decided to "throw their weight behind it" As previously stated by me ,when the story broke (and I was only reporting what I personally witnessed,both to AT and the EA) I demanded answers, I thought (wrongly) that AT were really going to "work the EA over" and DEMAND proper answers to legitimate questions...."What has caused all of those thousands and thousands of fish scales on the board walks?" "Where are the fish?"

 

Instead the EA fobbed AT off with "It was probably due to natural mink and otter predation"

 

Why did AT not insist the EA show then the evidence?

 

AT could have sent a reporter down and met with EA officials ...they did not

 

I was furious with AT and did not hold back in my criticism, I demanded proper journalistic investigation....instead we were served up a lazy,limp and frankly crap piece of jounalism......and that is exactly what I told them!!! the result? 18 months of silence!! and an angler (me) that stopped buying the AT after over 20 years of doing so!!!

 

However..there is always a silver lining and in this case it is the FACT the fish that spent this winter in those wetsheds remained unmolested, I put this down to the publicity it received, an old boy (Pike angler) that spent the winter in a nearby holiday chalet (night watchman if you like), and people like me making vigilant checks.

 

There have been other fish thefts in Norfolk this winter but I only know anything about these from what I have read, so cannot comment.

 

One other point, and I will not go into detail for obvious reasons here;

 

Some of you are scoffing at claims the fish cannot be removed without the use of waders,nets ,lights etc.....well I can tell you NONE of the above was how it was done,

 

If the thieves return this winter you will all KNOW the method used because I will make sure of that, with hard evidence and witnesses.

 

One thing I have learned through all of this is; I cannot trust the EA or the angling press....FACT!!!

 

regards Bob.

[Peter Waller]

I've read this one with growing cyniscism!

 

The question of the Potter Ham basins keeps creeping up. Someone stupidly paid £3.5 k to fish a basin on a river, a river where fish are free to roam. Fish move on, bloke gets his balls chewed off for blowing club funds. Arghhhh, it was a great deal, honestly fellas! But someone nicked the fish!!! Rubbish, they moved!!! Its an old, old chestnust, the EA have looked into it. The Broads Angling Strategy group became involved, Cyril Wigg amongst them, their opinion, same as mine. Netting the boat sheds, during the winter when boats are moored there, is as near impossible as impossible gets.

 

Dave Docra, yes, I know of Dave.

 

BASG, Richard Barnes, Dennis Willis, Martyn Page, Tom Bolton, Cyril Wigg, Dave Batten just to name six local worthies.

 

I don't doubt that theft and relocation goes on, but not much comes out of the Broads via nets.

 

I doubt much of the lost fish are used for pike baits, apart from what a man can pull out in an hour with a whip. And there, I agree, is a small part of the problem, some folk are greedy.

 

As for keepnets and match angling practices, yes, I'm sure that there are casualties.

 

Just lets look elsewhere for answers, and probably nature will provide them.

Edited May 18, 2006 by Peter Waller

[GlennB]

Some of you are scoffing at claims the fish cannot be removed without the use of waders,nets ,lights etc.....well I can tell you NONE of the above was how it was done,

 

In an enclosed space, difficult access etc etc, if I were to have a crack at large-scale fish theft I think I might want one of those electrical stun gizmos that EA people use to clear lakes and do surveys (as long as they run off, say, a car battery). Nice and quiet, you'd hardly even get wet.

[Anderoo]

In an enclosed space, difficult access etc etc, if I were to have a crack at large-scale fish theft I think I might want one of those electrical stun gizmos that EA people use to clear lakes and do surveys (as long as they run off, say, a car battery). Nice and quiet, you'd hardly even get wet.

 

Aha! An admission of guilt!

[jamie dimery-seek]

In an enclosed space, difficult access etc etc, if I were to have a crack at large-scale fish theft I think I might want one of those electrical stun gizmos that EA people use to clear lakes and do surveys (as long as they run off, say, a car battery). Nice and quiet, you'd hardly even get wet.

 

 

just what i was thinking glenn......

 

doesn't anyone live on any of these boats in the marina?,if so surely someone would have heard or seen something,like as been said before,marina's are usually very secure places(if they are anything like bath marina where i used to moor mine)...walk down the jetty any time of daty or night and heads start popping up from everywhere :blink:usually quite well lit up as well

[Steve Walker]

In an enclosed space, difficult access etc etc, if I were to have a crack at large-scale fish theft I think I might want one of those electrical stun gizmos that EA people use to clear lakes and do surveys (as long as they run off, say, a car battery). Nice and quiet, you'd hardly even get wet.

 

They don't even need anything as heavy as a car battery. The last one I used had the power source in a backpack, and was very light and easy to use. I don't know how you get hold of one if you aren't a legitimate user, though.

[DavyR]

I don't know how you get hold of one if you aren't a legitimate user, though.

 

If criminals can get hold of firearms as easily as they appear to do, I'm sure a bt of kit like that wouldn't pose too much of a problem for them.