Fish Thefts....some good news!

[Bob Bradford]

Some of you may recall me posting on here about a massive fish theft a couple of winters ago ,the incident occurred in the small broadland holiday village of Potter Heigham, huge numbers of fish were removed from their winter sanctuary, 3 giant wetsheds (water filled boat sheds) were systematically raped of nearly all fish life over a short period of time, the EA said it was "natural predation by Mink and Otters" but those of you in the know saw this a massive red herring (incidentally, this was the only fish that survived, all be it for a short time!).That winter there were other incidents of fish thefts all over Norfolk and the Broads, coincidently, at that time , local fishing tackle shops were selling un-marked blast frozen packets of roach and skimmer deadbaits, I among a few others made a link between the two, I had no hard evidence of course that they were linked, as I say, it was a "coincidence".

 

Now for the Good news!

 

Thus far this and last winter there have been no significant reports of fish thefts from the usual locations, nor indeed from any of the Broads or rivers, great news ,really terrific........coincidently, it is not possible to buy blast frozen, unmarked roach or skimmer dead baits from the local tackle shops.

 

I would like to think that this situation will remain, I would also like to thank Keith Arthur for helping highlight this problem in his writings and radio show,of course it may just be a coincidence that Keith exposed this Nationally and it has stopped, I love coincidences like this,don't you?

Regards Bob.

[Peter Waller]

Coincidently the trade agreed not to sell unmarked packets of deadbaits.

 

It would be nice to think that you are right Bob. This year though, with the 10s of thousands of dead fish on the Broads due to the salt water surge, it would have been quite excusable to haver filled up the freezers rather than waste what nature, probably due to man's interference, had provided.

[Bob Bradford]

Chicken or egg Mr Waller? I can tell you that "The trade " were reactive and were not pro-active in the abolition of un-marked deadbaits for retail, so despite your miserly (well it is an appropriate time of year for Scrooge I suppose) attempt to give credit where it is so obviously due , your "point" is null and void, it is a fact that due to outside pressure things have changed for the better, as for the "tens of thousands of dead fish due to salt tides" how many have you actually seen on the banks of your beloved Waveney? I am reliably informed that there were surprisingly few fatality's , I would be grateful if you could supply me with an accurate number however,

 

Seasons Greetings,

Bob.

[Mark Crame]

A mate picked up a load at Beccles for dead baiting with.

[Grandma]

Chicken or egg Mr Waller? I can tell you that "The trade " were reactive and were not pro-active in the abolition of un-marked deadbaits for retail, so despite your miserly (well it is an appropriate time of year for Scrooge I suppose) attempt to give credit where it is so obviously due , your "point" is null and void, it is a fact that due to outside pressure things have changed for the better, as for the "tens of thousands of dead fish due to salt tides" how many have you actually seen on the banks of your beloved Waveney? I am reliably informed that there were surprisingly few fatality's , I would be grateful if you could supply me with an accurate number however,

 

Seasons Greetings,

Bob.

 

The trade were reactive, but I understand it was in response to the PAC who felt that these unevidenced assumptions were giving pike angling a bad press.

 

Most of the main bait suppliers now supply baits in packaging with a PAC 'Pike Mark' demonstrating that it comes from legal and sustainable sources:

 

http://www.pacgb.co.uk/aboutpac/pikemark.htm

 

This is the reason baits aren't appearing in unmarked packs.

 

As for alledged theft of fish from boat yards, there is no guarantee that this will not happen again particularly if you believe reports of coarse fish being netted for food.

Edited December 23, 2006 by Grandma

[Bob Bradford]

The trade were reactive, but I understand it was in response to the PAC who felt that these unevidenced assumptions were giving pike angling a bad press.

 

Most of the main bait suppliers now supply baits in packaging with a PAC 'Pike Mark' demonstrating that it comes from legal and sustainable sources:

 

http://www.pacgb.co.uk/aboutpac/pikemark.htm

 

This is the reason baits aren't appearing in unmarked packs.

 

As for alledged theft of fish from boat yards, there is no guarantee that this will not happen again particularly if you believe reports of coarse fish being netted for food.

 

Grandma, ask yourself how the PAC were made aware of this problem, so you like Mr Waller are making a mute point, and there was plenty of evidence of un-marked deadbaits for sale in my area, every shop I visited in fact! I congratulate and support the PAC for taking their stance on this issue but my understanding of it is the Pike mark scheme is voluntary and not obligatory so it only goes so far, nevertheless it is a step in the right direction.

 

As for the possibility of small roach and skimmers being netted for food from the boat yards , do you mean for human consumption? if so , what evidence do you have?

[Grandma]

As for the possibility of small roach and skimmers being netted for food from the boat yards , do you mean for human consumption? if so , what evidence do you have?

 

Yes Bob, I was talking about human consumption. Like yourself, I have absolutely no evidence, but if we're talking coincidences then there have been coincidental reports of increased usage of longlines and nets to catch fish for food and also reports of coarse fish becoming more popular in urban fish markets.

 

I don't know what to make of it to be honest, a lot of it seems to be blown out of proportion in order to have a go at immigrant workers.

 

If the deadbait trade is believed to be involved, the question I would ask is are there any dead bait suppliers based in Norfolk? Blast freezing and packaging deadbaits is surely a fairly specialised process and you'd think that if there is a link between Potter Heigham and the unmarked baits in Norfolk tackle shops, then it's likely that they were packaged locally? Did anyone come across them outside of Norfolk?

Edited December 23, 2006 by Grandma

[Bob Bradford]

A good question Grandma and one I am unable to answer,

 

Large fish or specimen fish are being taken for the table up and down the Country, some by some of the posters on here, some by immigrant workers, some by illegals and some by illegal means.....but the big problem is with the legal removal of specimen fish for the table due to local by-laws allowing it, as long as an individual has a current fishing licence , and is not using illegal methods to trap his/her quarry he /she is perfectly within the law to remove his/her quoter of specimen sized fish for consumption again and again regardless of the environmental impact it is having, I and others want a change in the law to stop this, some ,like Keith Arthur are doing something to make this happen,

Regards Bob.

[mark barrett]

Grandma, ask yourself how the PAC were made aware of this problem, so you like Mr Waller are making a mute point, and there was plenty of evidence of un-marked deadbaits for sale in my area, every shop I visited in fact! I congratulate and support the PAC for taking their stance on this issue but my understanding of it is the Pike mark scheme is voluntary and not obligatory so it only goes so far, nevertheless it is a step in the right direction.

 

As for the possibility of small roach and skimmers being netted for food from the boat yards , do you mean for human consumption? if so , what evidence do you have?

 

 

about as much evidence as there was for those fish being taken for deadbaits.

 

bob get your facts straight.

 

The PAC never accepted these reports, particularly as the first source of these was roy webster, the guy that recently completely misquoted and misrepresented ex PAC president bill chillingworth to fit his anti pike agenda.

 

PAC brought the kitemark into being to offer those that wish to buy with confidence to do so, personally i have never had a doubt that these fish do not come from our waters. all those that subscribe to the scheme have provided details of their suppliers and are from a sustainable source. it is a protection of sorts for the trade, but instigating the kitemark was never an acknowledgement thatthere were baits being taken for the deadbait trade.

 

bob, you can spout off all the bile that you like, but i for one am not fooled that you dont have an anti pike agenda, because if you look at this and other forums where you post, the news items that you flag up, are always those not painting pikers in the best light. you jumped onto the holyhead incident with great gusto, even trying to link it to the illegal taking of fish. funny that you didnt do the same when bob nudd was being villified for his cull suggestion.

 

if you dont like pike bob, fair enough thats your perogative, but there are others that do, and we are not fish thieves and smugglers.

[Bob Bradford]

Mark ,lets get a few things straight here;

 

I do like Pike and am planning to go Pike fishing in the near future.

 

Some Pike anglers are fish thieves and fish smugglers and it is these I am attacking , and not the vast majority of innocent pikers.

 

I flag up issues that I feel need flagging up, it is hardly my fault that lately most of them are Pike related, as you have been studying my posts on here and elsewhere you will know I have condemned cheating match anglers, bad angling practice,the killing of ANY freshwater fish for the pot , and scores of of other issues related to angling in general.

 

The Holyhead incident is one of the more serious in recent years and I believe any angler ,regardless of background is equally appalled at the actions of Williams and Co, they broke the law not some poxy clubs rules and they are an utter disgrace to angling .

 

Now I will finish with a question for you Mark, How many deadbait wholesalers have signed up to the PAC kite-mark scheme and how many have not?.

 

PS, When I was the skipper of a very successful match team in the 90s, Webster would ring me up for quotes to print in the EDP and other papers.....he ALWAYS mis-quoted me and printed crap that I never ,ever said, I am not a big fan of his and have no qualms in saying that on a public forum, if you think I am part of his little band of anti pikers you are very mistaken, I am my own man Mark, I suspect, just the same as you are,

Regards and seasons greetings,Bob.

Edited December 24, 2006 by Bob Bradford