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Post by SHARK on Apr 16, 2008 22:29:29 GMT 1
More than £20,000-worth of illegal fishing nets have been seized from Plymouth Sound over the past year, according to the Environment Agency.
The Agency says that with only one patrol boat to monitor a wide area, it's often difficult to catch the poachers who set them. Environment Agency patrol boat The Environment Agency patrol boat, on night-time duty
Water bailiffs chase fishermen suspected of illegally setting nets to catch bass, sea trout and salmon.
But with only one boat to patrol five estuaries, Plymouth Sound and the coastal areas, Mark Pilcher, of the Agency, says that catching the offenders is a rare event. Environment Agency officer with nets Catching the nets is one thing - netting the offenders is proving a tougher task for the Environment Agency
"Ideally we'd like to catch the offenders, and seize their vehicle and boat, but in reality we try to tackle the the thing that causes the most environmental damage - the nets," he said.
Ten miles of suffocating gill nets have been seized from the Sound over the past year.
With stock levels currently very low, they threaten salmon and sea trout coming in to spawn.
Those responsible have so far escaped the net, but if they are pulled in, they face fines up to £2,000.
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Post by SI on Apr 17, 2008 10:20:34 GMT 1
Things like this are happening all over the country and needs to be stopped Ideally we'd like to catch the offenders, and seize their vehicle and boat, but in reality we try to tackle the the thing that causes the most environmental damage - the nets. They say they just tackle the net problem but without tackling the offender problem these things will just carry on happening. The authorities take a net out of the water the offender just puts one back in the water in another place. There needs to be bigger fines to try and stop these things happening and also needs more people to contact the authorities if they see any netters at all, It shows that we care about our environment and our fish. Even if the netter someone reports is a legal netter theres always the chance there not then these people can be stopped from destroying our coastline and our fish.
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Post by SI on Apr 17, 2008 14:00:18 GMT 1
Just found this piccy on the north wales sea committee website, A lovely little bass caught up in gill-nets.
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