23/01/2006 - Sharp-eyed Environment Officers seized an illegal fishing net while on an enforcement patrol off the Devon coast. The Environment Agency team from the Nemesis patrol boat spotted and pulled a surface net from the sea off Sandy Bay, Exmouth, last Wednesday. It was near to Straight Point, an area where surface nets are banned.

The net had been marked with a small yellow outer buoy and a discarded plastic milk container in order to avoid detection.

An Environment Agency spokesman said the net had no identification and had been set with little surface marking to disguise its presence.

“When removed from the water the net was found to be clean, suggesting it had only been set for a relatively short period,” said an Environment Agency spokesman.

“We found that two fish had already been enmeshed in the net, a bass and a dogfish, and these were released alive.”

Netting is restricted in this area to protect migratory salmon and sea trout returning to the River Exe. Nets are also known to entrap and drown seabirds when set illegally.

This latest find follows similar seizures of illegal nets in Cornwall during December, when illegal nets and other fishing equipment were destroyed.