I
Ian Cloke
Guest
Officials armed with batons, handcuffs and body armour are patrolling riverbanks and lakes as tensions rise between anglers and eastern Europeans. The migrants have been blamed by fishermen for contributing to declining fish stocks by illegally keeping their catches for the dinner table rather than returning them to the waterways.
After reports of anglers firing over the heads of the migrants, the Environment Agency has stepped up efforts to restore calm and to prosecute thieves by sending out the "high-impact fisheries enforcement" officers.
Adrian Taylor, the fisheries policy manager at the agency, said that the officers had the same powers as the police when enforcing fisheries law and were also training in surveillance techniques.
Angling experts believe they will need all their training to deal with the disputes. Richard Lee, the editor of Angling Times, said: "There's a lot of anger and soon it will lead to some terrible violence. The scale of thefts by foreigners is absolutely horrific. It has become a major problem in every town and city. Fishermen are very passionate about their sport and when they see a lot of people coming in and disrupting and threatening our rivers, they get very angry.
"I know of people who have fired warning shots over people's heads with shotguns and it won't be long before their sights are lowered."
Areas particularly affected include the Thames and the Nene in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
Ken Wade, the match secretary for the Peterborough & District Angling Club, said: "We have fish taken daily by eastern Europeans. They are not respecting the rules. Confronting them can be very intimidating."
Prosecutions for the most serious types of fish crime have tripled in the past three years. Between April and June, the agency dealt with 1,200 cases of illegal fishing. The cases resulted in formal cautions and fines and costs of ?145,000.
While freshwater fish such as carp, perch, roach, bream and pike are considered inedible by most Britons, in many central and eastern European countries they are regarded as delicacies.
In Poland, carp is the main ingredient of the traditional meal eaten on Christmas Eve. The starter is a soup made from the head, fins and other discarded parts of the fish, followed by the carp itself, fried and served with potatoes and vegetables.
In June, Hertfordshire police arrested and questioned four eastern Europeans seen with snorkels and a spear gun near a lake stocked with protected carp.
Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West, has set up a parliamentary group on angling and recently hosted a summit at Westminster on fish theft.
He said: "There's widespread concern. Taking fish for the pot is second nature to eastern Europeans but is anathema to us.
"Our fish stocks are under threat and if we killed everything we caught there wouldn't be any fish left.
"I hope the agency gets a few high-profile prosecutions to get the message across that fish thefts are unacceptable."
After reports of anglers firing over the heads of the migrants, the Environment Agency has stepped up efforts to restore calm and to prosecute thieves by sending out the "high-impact fisheries enforcement" officers.
Adrian Taylor, the fisheries policy manager at the agency, said that the officers had the same powers as the police when enforcing fisheries law and were also training in surveillance techniques.
Angling experts believe they will need all their training to deal with the disputes. Richard Lee, the editor of Angling Times, said: "There's a lot of anger and soon it will lead to some terrible violence. The scale of thefts by foreigners is absolutely horrific. It has become a major problem in every town and city. Fishermen are very passionate about their sport and when they see a lot of people coming in and disrupting and threatening our rivers, they get very angry.
"I know of people who have fired warning shots over people's heads with shotguns and it won't be long before their sights are lowered."
Areas particularly affected include the Thames and the Nene in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
Ken Wade, the match secretary for the Peterborough & District Angling Club, said: "We have fish taken daily by eastern Europeans. They are not respecting the rules. Confronting them can be very intimidating."
Prosecutions for the most serious types of fish crime have tripled in the past three years. Between April and June, the agency dealt with 1,200 cases of illegal fishing. The cases resulted in formal cautions and fines and costs of ?145,000.
While freshwater fish such as carp, perch, roach, bream and pike are considered inedible by most Britons, in many central and eastern European countries they are regarded as delicacies.
In Poland, carp is the main ingredient of the traditional meal eaten on Christmas Eve. The starter is a soup made from the head, fins and other discarded parts of the fish, followed by the carp itself, fried and served with potatoes and vegetables.
In June, Hertfordshire police arrested and questioned four eastern Europeans seen with snorkels and a spear gun near a lake stocked with protected carp.
Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West, has set up a parliamentary group on angling and recently hosted a summit at Westminster on fish theft.
He said: "There's widespread concern. Taking fish for the pot is second nature to eastern Europeans but is anathema to us.
"Our fish stocks are under threat and if we killed everything we caught there wouldn't be any fish left.
"I hope the agency gets a few high-profile prosecutions to get the message across that fish thefts are unacceptable."