The Environment Agency has today (Monday) issued a formal caution for three offences to angler Peter Collins of Peterborough who was caught fishing on the old course of the River Nene using set-lines – an illegal form of fishing prohibited under section 1 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.


An EA netsman returns a huge zander to the Fens

The formal caution was administered in person by an Environment Agency solicitor and was accepted by Peter Collins at the Agency’s regional offices in Peterborough. He also agreed to forfeit the lines and hooks that he was using as the set-lines.

The caution, signed by Mr Collins, will stay on his record with the Environment Agency for five years and is an admission of his guilt to the offences.

It can be cited as a previous offence if the offender is brought to court in the future and found guilty of another breach of the law.

On 16 February 2004 Peter Collins was observed fishing with the set-lines by two individuals, a liaison officer with the Pike Anglers Club who is a former police constable and a local angling journalist.

Interviewed under caution later at home in Folksworth, Collins claimed he was fishing for Zander to make a protest against the introduction of these predator fish into East Anglian waters and had been doing so intermittently for about three-and-a-half years, estimating that he had caught about 50 fish during that time.

He claimed it was easier for him to use set lines as it was no longer possible for him to fish with rod and line because of a physical disability making it difficult for him to get up and down the banks of rivers. He admitted that he knew it was illegal.

Having made his protest public he said he would not be doing it any more.

It was for public interest reasons that the Environment Agency decided to issue a formal caution rather than taking Mr Collins to court.

On the evidence, either a prosecution or formal caution could be instituted. The Agency chose a formal caution as the appropriate action to take.

Lawyers decided that it would not be in the public interest to take Mr Collins to court because of:

  1. His age – 80 in October
  2. His poor health
  3. His previous good character
  4. His co-operation with investigating officers and his full and frank admissions, and
  5. His categorical assurance that he does not intend to offend again.

Environment Agency Area Manager Keith Stonell said: “Set-lines are illegal and we deplore their use. We will take appropriate enforcement action wherever we have evidence of a person using set-lines.

“When deciding what action to take, we have to operate under the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In Mr Collins’ case, it was clear that a formal caution was the appropriate action.

“A formal caution is a serious matter. It will be held on the offender’s record and it will influence our decision whether to institute proceedings if he offends again. It may also be cited in any subsequent court proceedings.”

FISHINGmagic Says
It’s a tragedy that Collins clung to the old misnomer that the only good zander is a dead zander and that he believed it so implicitly he killed so many fine sporting fish. Probably far more than we will ever know. You would have thought that a man with his background would have held a more enlightened view.

But I do agree that the EA took the right action in this instance. There is no point in seeking a more severe penalty providing the EA are convinced that he will not offend again.

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