Tackle theft, fish smuggling, poaching and illegal stockings.
The list of angling related crimes is on the increase, more complex and organised than ever before.
Historically, the enforcement agencies charged to deal with such crimes have been largely ineffective, primarily due to the absence of quality information and the lack of any cohesive vehicle to process that information were it to arrive.
In 2010, the English Carp Heritage Organisation teamed up with Crimestoppers to unify the approach by the relevant enforcement authorities (police, Cefas Fish Health Inspectorate, Environment Agency) and to provide a 24hr confidential service fully briefed to gather and forward information regarding angling related crime to those authorities.
After a reasonably slow start to the campaign ECHO/Cefas & EA have been extremely encouraged by the quality and details of the intelligence received to date and a number of high level investigations continue as we speak as a direct result of Crimestoppers.
We are also looking forward to increased TV/Radio/media coverage in the next few months.
ECHO/Cefas & EA are keen to extend the Crimestoppers partnership into year 2, and are currently working on raising the £16k annual subscription required by May 2011.
Whilst any contributions towards this amount are appreciated, that is not the main purpose of this communication!
To make the most of this service, we NEED YOUR HELP promoting the Crimestoppers number amongst the angling and fisheries communities.
If you can forward this communication to others who might also be interested, I would be grateful.
Any ideas to promote or support this initiative or for further information, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Thanks in advance
Kindest regards
Ruth Lockwood
ECHO Chairman
