A row has erupted between anglers and migrant workers who are accused of catching fish and taking them home to eat rather than returning their catch.
Local fishermen claim eastern Europeans are catching fish illegally in private lakes and rivers without a licence.

Many migrants see carp, perch and roach as part of their diet and struggle to understand the concept of fishing for pleasure without eating what you catch.

Signs in five different languages have now gone up at lakes in Southampton.

The signs, in Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Latvian and Portuguese, have been put up at Little Testwood Lake and Nutsy Lake in Totton, which are reserved for members of Test Valley Angling Club.

Most of the people believe that having some water and the opportunity to catch something like fish is mainly to have a good dinner when they go home

The state that all fish must be returned to the water alive to ensure stocks are not depleted.

Andy Thomas, Environment Agency fishery officer, said problems have also been reported along the River Itchen.

He said: "We've received quite a number of reports from anglers fishing down here about certain fishing activity where course fish have been taken from the river.

"At the moment we don't have any real hard evidence that there's any environmental impact.

"For people from some countries the carp is a traditional dish so they've been quite quick to take them and unfortunately that has ruffled some feathers with our local anglers.

"From our viewpoint we have to make sure that all anglers fish legally and we want to make sure that's the case."

Barbara Storey is Polish and lives in Southampton, which has one of the biggest Polish populations in the country with more than 20,000 Poles living in the city.

Ms Storey, who is a translator and runs a helpline for Polish workers, said carp is traditionally eaten at Christmas in her home country.

"We fish for eating," she said.

"Most of the people believe that having some water and the opportunity to catch something like fish is mainly to have a good dinner when they go home.

"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.

"There is a culture difference that we have to sort out. We have to tell them [Poles] that local British people don't do it and they must know it."

They do know Ian.
They will carry on doing it beacause they are not being punished for it. The evidence is out there. All the authorities have to do is go and pick them up.

Nothing will be done until some form of violence starts.

"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.

How long has she lived over for?
I know of a fish that was caught twice within one hour.

Will the EA doe them for fishing without a liscence?
Then they will buy or counterfit one but still take fish for the pot.
Will the EA then do them for removing fish from a water, though they are not putting them elsewhere(apart from in the pot).

You know my opinion on these Ian,they know what they are doing and should be sent back from whence they came from and the sooner the better.If i hear the Culture difference again i will throw up.
Geoff Cooper Irish correspondent has been telling me for months Eastern europeans have been thieving fish in Ireland and are armed

If they walked into a shop and and stole from the fish counter would the police do nothing ?

If it was people stealing horses or dogs for food would the police do nothing ?

If they were stealing salmon would the police do nothing ?

All we hear everytime the ever increasing problem of fish stealing by migrant workers is brought up is PC b/s excuses for these people and the suggestion that they are not damaging fish stocks.

These people know they are not allowed to take fish and yet they continue to do so. I have seen them repeately offend on a water less than a 1 1/2 miles from where I live. The baliff has told them they cannot take pike for the table but they come back time after time and if the baliff is not there they kill and take the pike they catch.

It's theft and like any migrant worker who persistently and intentionally commits theft they should be sent back to their country of origin.

The clear message to the offenders at the moment is carry on doing what you are doing. All you have to do if caught is to make out your English is poor and pretend to be ignorant of the law. Then the EA will be unlikely to prosecute you for not having a fishing licence and the police/cps are unlikely to prosecute you for stealing.

Anywhere else in Europe wouldn't accept migrant workers flouting the law so why on earth do we ?

We've got some stuff up on this tonight:

PAC news

Along with latest on Scottish Fisheries Bill.

Andy i could not agree more and the only thing i would like to see is a few fish thiefs floating down the river

I have just seen in my local paper that the Mersey is being plundered for its course fish by non English speaking people.

It came as no surprise that the Bridgewater canal is now also being targeted.

Both these venues have out of the way places. But they wouldn't understand that would they?

Natural progression tells me that house burgaleries, thefts, and stabbings will also increase. And that is not scare mongering.
Where ever these people are housed fishing will suffer and the crime rate will soar.

This is a new problem that arose after a huge influx of migrant workers after the expansion of the European Union.

That the authorities have failed to act to stop the escalating problem is an utter disgrace.

Angling as a whole needs to unite on this matter and lobby the goverment to deal with it as a matter of urgency.

Quite right Andy.
There is no better time to put our combined weight behind the S.A.A. or P.A.C.

The trouble is Andy is when ever you broach the subject of Eastern Europeans we have had people on this website bleating bigot racist or they have a different culture(usual rubbish when they cant win an argument).
We all know who are thieving the fish and its been well documented for yonks by the media including the Angling Times.
I sent my monthly article into the Angling Star last week(hope its not edited) and its a subject i have written about.I am expecting all the trout and grayling to be removed from the River Wye at Bakewell by these people who know what they are doing but dont give a toss because of the Liberal Lefties that infiltrate every government council law society etc.
Its not tolerance we need its intolerance,one could imagine the outcry from the RSPB when they start killing a few birds(and they will)

"one could imagine the outcry from the RSPB when they start killing a few birds(and they will)"

They have already John, a swan was taken from the dyke last year, they just beheaded it. This was reported, but no-one has heard anything else about it :(( The birds ay Thrybergh are also being targetted, but nothing seems to be getting done about it???

i pop into our local car boot sale every Sunday morning - and nowadays any rods/ reels etc regardless of condition are being bought by eastern europeans

anything from old cane rods to beachcasters!!

I notice that theres' an article about this very thing (Eastern Europeans fishing for food) in todays Daily Mail.
And this weeks AT actually has the photos of one chap fishing illegally (from a bridge using a handline) and taking the fish away.

I have just contacted two Polish clubs in Sheffield and told them about this problem and also mailed a letter to the Sheffield Star which is the biggest PC paper ever on this earth.They will give front page exposure to any immigrant doing ok but avoid any other issue when they are not like the plague.
Have my doubts if they will print although Jim Baxter editor of the Angling Star will print because Jim thinks the same as me.
I know one fishery owner who will take the law into his own hands if anyone tries to take his fish and i certainly would never cross him

Trouble with us anglers is we are such a bunch of nandy pandies and have never ever stuck together,all bark and no bite

barbara storey says "most people believe that having some water and the opportunity to catch something like fish,is mainly to have a good dinner when they get home".
well why the hell dont they go down to their local supermarket and buy some ingredients take them home and make a bloody good dinner!!!!

a few weeks ago,one of the oundle bailifs on the nene had a knife pulled on him while reminstrating with polish anglers who knew they were doing wrong but didnt give a stuff!!!
also a good friend of mine witnessed police and ea officials arresting and confiscating nets from imigrants on the north bank near peterboro a couple of saturdays ago.

Should have slung the twats in the water Nick.
I once told an Iraqi fishing at Darley Abbey on the Derwent if i saw him kill a fish he would be swimming,bloody well would as well

I have no problem whatsoever with the influx of migrant workers. I do have a huge issue with fish thefts which have already affected several of the waters I fish.

The EA and the Police are failing to react appropriately to the problem. Then again should i really expect anything else when twice in just over a year i have called the police about criminal damage and on neither occassion have they bothered to come out. On the second occassion a youth threw a stone at my girlfriend's car whilst she was on her way to the station to pick me up. I drove around and found the group of lads and my girlfriend pointed out the lad responsible. I called the police who said they couldn't send someone.

The police and EA should and must be made to do something about flagrant breaches of the law. Migrant workers who are continuing taking fish from private waters without the owners permission knowing it to be illegal should know that if caught the consequences will be severe. If the poachers,and that is what they are, know that they risk being heavily fined and sent home if they are caught stealing fish then they would stop.

I have a mate who is English but lives in France who was caught night fishing over there. The police told him in no uncertain terms that of they caught him again he would be deported.

We unfortunately live in a country which is becoming paralysed by PC b/s.

I read the EA press release earlier and as usual they are considering doing something but are underestimating the problem and probably won't actually do FA untill the damage has already been done.

The EU is due to expand further still to include Bulgaria and Romania due to join next year. Are we just going to sit back and let this problem get even bigger ?

I do have a problem with the huge influx of migrant workers and i think 95% of people if the truth is known would say the same thing.In fact nearly every radio phone in would say the same
We would not have this problem if they where not here end of story