an idea to stop fish being taken by eastern europeans

[ayjay]

Has any one actually read the first post in this thread, you have all taken it completely off track. The question was whether Anglers could act as Voluntary Community Baliffs in association with the EA.

 

 

 

I certainly did, not sure if you read my response, but perhaps you can tell me how this would work, bearing in mind that the EA don't actually rush out to the banks now if an angler reports some misdemeanours occuring.

[Dick Dastardly]

John (Ayjay) has answered John (keinboet) 's post really! You can ring them up now for rule breaking or pollution (the pollution one is free if I remember right?) but whats the point when the EA cant/wont respond?

[dogfish]

Not so, I'm afraid.

 

Here's what I posted on a previous topic:

 

"In England and Wales it is illegal to take any fish from any stillwater not connected to a river without the express permission of the owner of the fishing rights. To do so is a criminal offence under the Theft Act. Indeed, even fishing such a stillwater without permission of the owner is considered theft as you'd be "stealing" his fishing rights.

 

River and canal fish are considered wild creatures and therefore don't belong to anyone. Thus they can't strictly speaking be stolen. Having said that you can still steal the owner's fishing rights and therefore be prosecuted under the Theft Act if you fish such waters without permission, whether you take any fish or not. However these laws don't apply to tidal rivers or the extremely few waters that are designated public fisheries. So on non-tidal rivers and canals, or on stillwaters connected to a river, it's still illegal to take any fish from any water without the express permission of the owner of the fishing rights, unless the venue is designated a public fishery.

 

Additionally, both the owner of the fishing rights and/or the Environment Agency may impose size or bag limits. As far as I'm aware there are no such national EA limits. However there are local limits, especially for game fish. In each case it is a criminal offence to break any of these regulations, and in the case of breaking the owner's rules it's again treated as theft.

 

One final point. Whether or not there's a sign saying the fishery is private is irrelevant. With the very rare exception all non-tidal waters in England and Wales are private.

 

For further details see the excellent book "Angler's Law in England and Wales" by R.I.Millichamp.""

I also said that it is legal if within the club rules.

 

Therefore it is not illegal to remove a fish from a stillwater if the controlling club allow it.....and many do

[s_mac]

John (Ayjay) has answered John (keinboet) 's post really! You can ring them up now for rule breaking or pollution (the pollution one is free if I remember right?) but whats the point when the EA cant/wont respond?

 

Budgie, i know they dont respond, like the police dont respond to non statistic crime. They have no time to walk our streets, but the community officers do walk our streets.

They can take info, they can take names addresses, and i guess this info is then past to police officers who can act.

the ponit im trying to get across is that, if we had community EA baliffs, who could ask for licenses, take names address, and the likes, then as parking tickets can be handed out, cant they send out fixed penalties maybe.

could the law not be changed, so that whether you have a licenses or not, if you dont have it on you while fishing, then your charged with a fixed penalty.

that money like motoring offence money, could then be put back into the EA to give more resources to them.

it works for motoring.

why not fishing.

and before all the negatives come along. im just throwing ideas around. so lets put all are heads together, to try and find an answer. as anglers we all want the same results at the end of the day. to catch fish, preserve our waters, care for our fish, so that 1lb bream you caught this year, will be 1.5lb next year and so on with all the other fish, and you want those fish to breed more fish.

 

regards

sean

[Steve Burke]

I also said that it is legal if within the club rules.

 

Therefore it is not illegal to remove a fish from a stillwater if the controlling club allow it.....and many do

 

Apologies, Dogfish. I misread your post.

[Guest long-trotter]

Budgie, i know they dont respond, like the police dont respond to non statistic crime

 

Sean, I don't know where you got that idea regarding the Police. Sadly it is all down to the publics expectations, in the scheme of things it is classed as low level crime, saying that it is still logged and dealt with and will show in the crime statistics.

 

As a Police officer I would encourage every angler before going fishing to look up their non emergency police contact number for their force area, put it with your licence so if you see anything suspicious you can give it a call, someone will attend “eventually”. Remember to take note of descriptions of individuals and any vehicle index numbers. If it is a life threatening incident or serious crime that is taking place then it's a triple nine call, that includes threats of violence.

 

Don't under any circumstance get in to confrontations with people as some individuals don't value life with the same regard as you.

As I have said before, It’s good to get feedback from anglers and the general public as it helps us target our recourses and build a picture of whats going on.

[dogfish]

Apologies, Dogfish. I misread your post.

 

No worries Steve.

 

I was being pretty general and accept your point.

 

The daft thing about threads like this is that sensible, reasonable people start arguing amongst themselves whereas 'mischief makers' stand back and simply stir the pot occasionally.

 

that's the internet for you.

 

ps. I am still compiling my book list....I have a lot more than I realised

[s_mac]

Sean, I don't know where you got that idea regarding the Police. Sadly it is all down to the publics expectations, in the scheme of things it is classed as low level crime, saying that it is still logged and dealt with and will show in the crime statistics.

 

As a Police officer I would encourage every angler before going fishing to look up their non emergency police contact number for their force area, put it with your licence so if you see anything suspicious you can give it a call, someone will attend “eventually”. Remember to take note of descriptions of individuals and any vehicle index numbers. If it is a life threatening incident or serious crime that is taking place then it's a triple nine call, that includes threats of violence.

 

Don't under any circumstance get in to confrontations with people as some individuals don't value life with the same regard as you.

As I have said before, It’s good to get feedback from anglers and the general public as it helps us target our recourses and build a picture of whats going on.

 

Im not going to get in a policital debate about the police force, but i see first hand the response times for certain crimes if you want to call it that.

i see it everyday, and as you said your a police officer. PM me and we can discuss this further, as i dont want to do this in open chat,. you will understand when i talk to you, in confidence.

[Guest long-trotter]

Im not going to get in a policital debate about the police force, but i see first hand the response times for certain crimes if you want to call it that.

i see it everyday, and as you said your a police officer. PM me and we can discuss this further, as i dont want to do this in open chat,. you will understand when i talk to you, in confidence.

 

 

Sean, your eagerness to help is appreciated mate, but please take this advice.

 

Just because someone says they are a Police officer on a forum don't go offering information to them, you have no way of establishing who they say they are.

 

Secondly forums even Pm's are not secure. (this site seems to run a tight ship) but still it should not be used for confidential chats, also as was shown the other week forums are liable to hackers and the information could end up in the wrong hands.

 

Finally if you feel you have any information which would be of interest to the police you can go to a station and ask to chat to an officer in private or stop a PCSO, there are fair few about now. Alternatively if yo don't feel comfortable doing that Call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Just tell us what you know, not who you are.

 

Please bear this advice in mind, as I would not like to see you compromise your safety and that of your nearest and dearest.

Edited September 29, 2006 by long-trotter

[Dick Dastardly]

It all seems to boil down to the same thing again,that neither the EA or the Police deem this as a big enough problem to warrent their attention........so is it? or are we as anglers (and there fore finding it a very emotive subject) just over reacting?