An angler from Scunthorpe is among dozens of people caught fishing illegally at lake and river sites, as a clampdown is made on unauthorised angling.
A total of 38 people from across Yorkshire and the North East have been landed with court bills totalling more than £12,000, in fines and costs, in cases brought by the Environment Agency. One of the offenders was Steven Vickery, of Scunthorpe.
Vickery, 61, of Pochard Drive, pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates’ Court to fishing during the close season at the River Ancholme at Broughton Bridge on April 18, 2023. He was fined £40 and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge totalling £76.
READ MORE:
Vickery’s case was among a number brought before Hull Magistrates on September 7 and October 31, 2023. The court bills amount to hundreds of times the cost of an annual fishing licence, which starts at just £33 a year, for offences that took place across an area including Hull, Doncaster and Leeds and as far as Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
Environment Agency fisheries enforcement officers are clamping down on illegal angling to protect fish stocks and make fishing sustainable. The prosecutions mainly relate to fishing during the close season and fishing without a licence.
The Environment Agency carries out enforcement work all year round and is supported by partners including the police and the Angling Trust. Paul Caygill, fisheries enforcement officer at the Environment Agency, said: “We hope these penalties send out the message to others that illegal fishing is taken seriously and people flouting the law can expect to face enforcement action.
“They could have bought a one-day rod licence to fish for just £6.60 or an annual licence for £33 and avoided both the fine and court process, so this has proven costly for those involved. The money raised from fishing licence sales is used to protect and improve fish stocks and fisheries for the benefit of anglers.
“Illegal fisheries undermines our efforts to protect fish stocks and make fishing sustainable into the future.” Any angler aged 13 or over, fishing on a river, canal or still water must purchase a fishing licence to fish in England and Wales.
Anyone with information about illegal fishing activities can contact the Environment Agency incident hotline 24/7 on 0800 807060 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
