Me thinks some education is called for

[GlennB]

Surely ignorance is no defense, isn't it a good idea to familarise ones self with what is and what isn't acceptable when deciding to up roots and migrate to another country?

 

When in Rome....

Quite right. When in Rome (or Madrid) ...

 

If you moved to Spain would you suddenly find it OK to blow the living cr#p out of songbirds for sport? Birds too small to eat? Shoot dolphins from your fishing boat for target practice? Skewer bulls?

 

Would you join in chucking a live goat in a sack off the local church tower?

 

In other words, would you integrate Ant ?

 

Or would you behave according to the beliefs you grew up with in the UK?

 

If so, why?

[*Ant*]

Quite right. When in Rome (or Madrid) ...

 

If you moved to Spain would you suddenly find it OK to blow the living cr#p out of songbirds for sport? Birds too small to eat? Shoot dolphins from your fishing boat for target practice? Skewer bulls?

 

Would you join in chucking a live goat in a sack off the local church tower?

 

In other words, would you integrate Ant ?

 

Or would you behave according to the beliefs you grew up with in the UK?

 

If so, why?

 

 

I'd find it quite easy to keep my beliefs I grew up with and obey and respect an adopted countries way of life.

 

Ask yourself one small question. If you planned a foreign fishing holiday, wouldn't you familarise yourself with what you can and can't do before hand?

[Lid]

Or would you behave according to the beliefs you grew up with in the UK?

 

If so, why?

 

I believe my beliefs come from somewhere beyond the country I grew up in! I am certain that I would have similar beliefs wherever I was raised. Don't ask me to tell you why, but I sure of this fact.

[Newt]

I am certain that I would have similar beliefs wherever I was raised. Don't ask me to tell you why, but I sure of this fact.

 

The nice thing about believing that is that unless you plan to move to a very different place than the UK, it is a harmless notion. Almost certainly dead wrong but harmless and never-to-be-tested.

[poledark]

Apart from all the side issues, it is usually against the fishery rules to take/remove any of the fish...so it don't matter where you come from, it is ILLEGAL and a CRIMINAL offence, covered by the THEFT act.

 

Den

[*Ant*]

I really feel I must point out that I was implying that this Barbara Storey needed educating about her comment -

 

"We believe it's quite cruel to hurt the fish, to cut the fish and then to put this poor little thing back to the water, dying there somewhere lonely."

 

Think that was lost during the various replies.

[Dick Dastardly]

To right Ant! Trouble with any post on this subject is that it rapidly breaks down to the issue of "foreigners", "killing our fish to eat" and "is angling cruel"!

 

Would the lady in question listen anyway? Most seem to rooted in their own (often un informed) opinions or at best look at the issue from a different moral perspective to us.And in all fairness thats their right.....just let us have our right to chose though!

 

Do I make sure that I know the rules when I fish abroad? Yes of course I do.....but like at home even that doesnt stop me breaking the ones I dont like does it?

 

When we are abroad we are severly punnished for not recognising and following local customs/laws etc (and quite rightly so) but here in the UK its either we dont bother enforcing our customs/laws on foreign visitors/immigrants etc or they simply wont accept them?Neither is right is it?

 

No I see the blame laying squarely at our feet.If we didnt allow people into our country then the problem wouldnt exist.If we let people in to our country but both made sure they knew our customs/laws and of course then enforced them the problem wouldnt exist either.

 

No lets not blame the "foriegners" for any of these problems as I see it as "us" that are to blame by being such a push over,soft touch country in the first place.

 

Oh before the pinko mincing politically correct brigade lynch me just note that it is my own fellow country men that Ive the problem with not any other colour,creed,nationality etc etc.

 

"GREAT" Britain? yeagh right.

 

Sorry Ant but Ive gone and done it now as well!

Edited September 14, 2006 by BUDGIE

[zedhead]

personally i think the problem is not education, for you cannot teach people what they do not want to learn. some peoples views are so naive, lets be realistic, these folk are invading our country, evading our rules and regulations because they know full well they can plead ignorance and get away with pretty much anything. They know full well they cant take fish for the plate in england, but they know that there is nobody to stop them. I have reported lithuanians, polish to the EA and have witnessed them taking fish for the pot, around the boston area. The lithuainians (they had a lithuanian number plate) had a new vw people carrier!!! so poor are these people that they need to resort to stealing our fish... i think not, they recieve ample benefits to survive in this country!

 

What needs to happen is a totally strict regime of law enforcement, from the EA and police and legislation being changed by the government. If we made examples of some of them, long senteces or deportation for any crimes commited how ever small, we might not be seen as a week nation that is seen as an easy ticket for the poor eastern european countries.

 

The only other hope i carry, is that the fish are so full of pollutanta, heavy metals etc that by stealing our fish, some of these people become a little ill and spread the word to the others that english fish make you ill.....fingers crossed!

[GlennB]

I really feel I must point out that I was implying that this Barbara Storey needed educating about her comment -

 

"We believe it's quite cruel to hurt the fish, to cut the fish and then to put this poor little thing back to the water, dying there somewhere lonely."

 

Think that was lost during the various replies.

 

Fair point.

 

She knows little or nothing about biology.

If she's so concerned, she ought to volunteer to patrol the waterways of this country, looking for depressed fish. Maybe she could give them a hug? Or introduce them to other lonely fish she's met along the way? There are probably local authority grants available for good work like this.

 

Or "mad old bat" if you prefer.

[Sportsman]

At the risk of being accused of being one of the "pinko mincing politically correct brigade" can i just insert a few facts into this communal rant.

 

These folk are not "invading" our country and we cannot forbid them entry. Anyone heard of the European Community and open borders. They have a right to fish here, just as we have a right to fish in France, Spain, Poland and all of the other countries in Europe.

 

They are not taking fish because they claim to be so poor that they need them for food, thay are taking them because thats what they and their forebears for the last few hundred years have always done, all over Europe.

 

They do not receive "ample benefits" to live in this country, the VAST majority of European economic migrants come here to work and do work, you don't get a new VW people carrier on benefits. There are proportionately fewer immigrants on benefits than British Nationals, that's for sure.

We can't deport them for breaking what is in effect a byelaw. Do you think that British anglers in other countries always obey the local laws ? If you do you haven't seen the mess left by British "anglers" on the banks of the Ebro after they have had a good session.

Maybe they should be given lengthy prison terms and then deported.

 

There is no doubt that these folk are breaking the law and should be stopped, and that the law should be enforced and of course people like the woman quoted need to be educated on catch and release, but let us please have a sense of proportion and less talk of "invasion" and deportation. It does our case no favours.