Despite being busy responding to fish deaths related to drought, reports of poaching and scary thunder storms almost 200 Environment Agency officers checked the licences of over 17,000 anglers in the latest rod licence blitz.
Enforcement teams made checks on 1860 waters across England and Wales between 18 June and 26 June and caught 854 illegal anglers who are cheating honest anglers and not playing the sport fairly. Fishing without a licence is an offence and those caught fishing illegally will face tough penalties, including fines of up to £ 2,500 and a ban from fishing.
Among the culprits apprehended by enforcement officers during the blitz were a number of carp fisherman in the Environment Agency’s Thames region. Using tackle worth well over £ 5000 and bait which costs in the region of £ 50 – £ 100 the fisherman thought that they would risk foregoing the £ 3.00 licence fee to fish for the day.
Environment Agency Head of Fisheries Dafydd Evans said “Environment Agency inspectors checked over 17,000 licences at over 1000 locations and officers targeted waters better and directed maximum effort to waters where cheats were likely to be found. We picked up almost 900 rod licence offences over the ten-day period. People who fish without a licence are cheating the system and their fellow anglers. We will continue vigorously with our blitz programme to bring rod licence evasion down.
“All rod licence money gets ploughed back into fisheries work which benefits all anglers, fish stocks and the waterside environment, and we will continue with our efforts to safeguard this essential income.”
On average each of our inspectors were checking 6 licences an hour during the blitz period and while they spent a lot of time checking the licences of anglers fishing on rivers, those fishing on stillwaters committed most of the offences. A number of anglers were booked for having an unlicenced third rod. Due to the use of databases and improved bankside technology most of the 900 tickets issued for rod licence offences will result in legal action.
Dafydd went on to say “Our staff are better equipped than ever. With access to databases at the switch of a mobile phone, enforcement officers can verify address and licence details – including whether they purchased a licence the previous year. All this makes catching licence evaders an easier process.”
Buying a licence couldn’t be easier – there are around 15,000 Post Offices and other outlets which sell them direct, and for a small additional charge they can be purchased over the phone (0870 1662662) or from our web site – www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fish.
