21-Jun-2006
- A Somerset fisherman caught twice by the Environment
Agency fishing for elvers with an unlawful net
has been given a 60 hour community service order
and ordered to pay costs of £450, after
appearing in court today.
The case was brought against
Stanley Harper, of Parkstone Avenue, Bridgwater,
Somerset, who had already been disqualified from
fishing for 12 months on 26 September 2005.
On 14 February 2006 Environment
Agency officers carried out a routine licence
checking patrol on the tidal River Parrett at
Burrowbridge, four miles upstream of Bridgwater,
and found the illegal net being operated by Stanley
Harper.
The purpose of the patrol was
to ensure that fisherman were complying with the
rules, and to ensure that no unlicensed or illegal
fishing was taking place.
As the Government body responsible
for enforcing and regulating fisheries legislation,
the Environment Agency regularly inspects the
elver fishery on the River Parrett.
The fisherman pay £65
a year to catch the elvers, or baby eels, as they
enter freshwater after their journey from the
Sargasso Sea.
They have to comply with the
legislation regulated by the Environment Agency.
Part of this legislation states
that an elver dip net should not be used in conjunction
with any other instrument or method, including
ropes, chains or floats.
The byelaws also state that
an elver dip net should only be operated by hand.
Any contravention of these bylaws would give an
unfair advantage, enabling a fisherman to catch
more than a fair share and reducing the number
of elvers in the lakes and rivers.
The illegal net laid by Stanley
Harper was found by fisheries bailiffs at 8pm
and was tethered to the bank by a rope. The net
handle was then fixed into the riverbank by a
stake with a float also attached to the net.
The net was seized and Stanley
Harper was cautioned.
This was the second time that
he had been caught with an illegal net. On 8 April,
2005, an oversized net was found during a routine
patrol on the River Parrett at Burrowbridge.
Stanley Harper, of 22 Parkstone
Avenue, Bridgwater, pleaded guilty three charges
of setting illegal fixed nets contrary to Section
6 and Schedule 4 of the Salmon and Freshwater
Fisheries Act 1975, as amended by Section 33 of
Salmon Act 1986.
That on or about 14 February
2006 in tidal River Parrett at Burrowbridge, Bridgwater,
did fish for elvers otherwise than by means of
an instrument which were entitled to place for
that purpose by virtue of a fishing licence.
And on the same date, he fixed
an unlawful net contrary to Section 6 and Schedule
4 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.
Harper received a community
order to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work, and
was ordered to pay £450 costs and disqualified
from holding a fishing licence for two years.
He was also ordered to forfeit his net and tackle.
Richard Dearnley from the Environment
Agency said:’The River Parrett is an area where
it is an offence to set any fixed net or an unattended
drift net under Section 6 of the Salmon and Freshwater
Fisheries Act 1975.
‘Stanley Harper knew he was
committing an offence and has now been caught
twice. Harper was disqualified for 12 months last
time so the second time he was caught he was fishing
whilst banned.’
‘During this period we
had numerous anonymous calls to say that people
were setting illegal nets in the area and we were
determined to take affirmative action to stop
it. Both the Environment Agency and the court
take this sort of offence very seriously.’
(Paul Gainey)
