Agency arrests man for salmon poaching on the River Sirhowy
Environment Agency Wales officers have arrested a man caught poaching migrating salmon in the River Sirhowy.
The 29-year-old man was arrested at 12pm on Wednesday November 3 in the Pontllanfraith area following tip-offs from members of the public. Members of the Environmental Crime Team carried out covert surveillance to identify the poacher before making the arrest. The Officers also seized a landing net and plastic netting, which was being used as part of the poaching operation.
Illegal netting not only has the potential to harm wild, native species but has the potential to damage salmon and sewin stocks. This can have serious implications for the economy in the area through angling tourism and other fishermen.
Rhys Hughes, Environment Agency Wales, said: “Poaching at this time of year has a significant impact on spawning fish and threatens the future stocks of salmon in the river.
”We are grateful to the members of the public who contacted us to report this poaching. We would urge anyone who witnesses illegal activity to call our Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.”
Fishermen caught on camera using illegal net on River Parrett
Two Bridgwater men have been banned from fishing for elvers for three years for using an illegal flow net to boost their catch.
Darren Britton and Martin Parr were also ordered to pay £1,860 each in fines and costs and had their equipment confiscated. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Agency bailiffs were on a routine patrol near the Westonzoyland Pumping Station on the River Parrett on May 14, 2010 when they discovered a large flow net, two aluminium poles and length blue rope hidden in undergrowth on a flood defence bank.
Returning, later in the day, the bailiffs kept the river under observation using a camera to record illegal activity. At 7.00pm two men appeared. One of them walked towards the net while the other climbed to the top of the flood bank to keep a look-out. The pair were then seen positioning the net in the river before walking away.
Later that evening the fishermen returned to retrieve the net. Martin Parr was carrying a bucket. Both men tried to run away when they realised they had been spotted by bailiffs. They were apprehended and the net recovered. When questioned the men said they had used an illegal net because they were ‘cheesed off’ that other people were using flow nets on the River Parrett to boost catches. Over-sized nets give fishermen an unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors who are only allowed to fish for elvers using dip nets. These must be operated by hand and not fixed to the riverbank in any way. Tethered to the bank by strong ropes, flow nets are highly efficient and less selective than dip nets. Elvers and other fish are funnelled into one small end where they can be easily removed. Some are crushed and die when caught in this way.
The net seized by bailiffs at Westonzoyland was three metres deep and had an opening approximately twice the maximum legal size. It contained around 100 gms of elvers that were returned to the river. Elvers attract high prices and currently fetch around £250 a kilo.
The number of young eels migrating into our rivers has crashed in recent years and the eel is now listed as an endangered species. It is estimated there has been a 70% reduction in England and Wales and 95% over Europe as a whole. The use of illegal nets to increase catches is unsustainable and threatens the survival of the eel. A kilo of elvers contains approximately 3,500 young eels. ‘Flow nets are an indiscriminate and unsustainable method of fishing. Both these defendants are licensed elver fishermen and know the rules, but chose to break the law for financial gain. Obstruction of bailiffs will not be tolerated,’ said Richard Dearnley for the Environment Agency.
‘Law-abiding elver fishermen on the River Parrett are rightly upset by people who use illegal nets. Their irresponsible behaviour removes fish from the river that could be caught legally. It also undermines a historic elver fishery,’ said Richard Dearnley.
Appearing before Weston-super-Mare magistrates, Martin Parr of Stafford Road, Bridgwater and Darren Britton of Westonzoyland Road, Bridgwater, were fined £820 and ordered to pay £1,040 costs each after pleading guilty to two offences under the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 including fishing with an unauthorised instrument and using a fixed engine (tethered net). They also admitted obstructing bailiffs in the course of their duties – an offence under the Police Act 1996.
In a separate case heard by Weston magistrates a father and son from Gloucester were also banned from elver fishing for three years and ordered to pay a total of £1,606 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to illegally fishing from Clevedon Pill Sluice on the Blind Yeo River, Somerset. Environment Agency bailiffs were on patrol on the Blind Yeo in the early hours of April 10, 2010 when they saw two men stood on a sluice gate outfall. Both were fishing for elvers using handheld nets. The structure is owned and operated by the Environment Agency.
The National eel fisheries byelaw prohibits fishing for elvers within 10 metres of a structure. This is because elvers passing through a sluice gate are concentrated into a narrow channel and have less chance of escaping a net placed close to an opening in the structure. When asked why he was fishing from the sluice gate outfall, Mr Robert Furmage said he had tried fishing from the bank but had nearly sunk up to his waist in mud. He admitted he had fished from the structure on three occasions and was getting £200 per kilo for his elvers.
Robert Furmage and his son, also called Robert, of Bibery Road, Gloucester were fined £200 and £120 respectively and ordered to pay £643.20 costs each after pleading guilty to fishing for elvers within 10 metres of a structure contrary to the National eel and Elver Fishing Byelaws 2004. Their equipment, including lamps, torches and a night vision scope, were also confiscated.
The court heard Robert Furmage junior had been warned about fishing from Clevedon Pill Sluice in 2009. He was recognised by the same bailiff who had spoken to him a year earlier and told him it was illegal to fish for elvers from the sluice.
