On the 27th July at Hadlow College’s Grove Farm Fisheries, The Angling Trust, The Environment Agency, and the Fisheries Management team joined forces to hold an awareness event around educating members of Kent Police, Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police about illegal activities in the fishing industry.
This was the Angling Trust’s third national event aiming to tackle fish theft, illegal fishing and poaching and involved educating police officers around legislation and their powers to enforce the law within the Fisheries industry. The day involved what to look out for when someone is fishing illegally or poaching, rules and regulations, and demos of equipment. The day also provided the Police an opportunity to have a go at fishing themselves!
Dave Wilkins, Angling Trust, Regional Enforcement Support Manager for the South-East said, ‘We are primarily tasked in educating and training angling clubs and fisheries how to report offences as well as training the Police. He continued “Anglers are notoriously poor at reporting offences and this event emphasised the importance of doing so in the future, so that these events can be logged by the Police and the Environment Agency.”
The day also covered The Angling Trust’s Building Bridges Project, set up in 2012 and delivered in partnership with the Environment Agency, to educate migrant anglers in British fishing rules and help prevent xenophobia. The services offered are completely free of charge, including providing multi-lingual signage and information leaflets, as well as the translation of club and fishery rules into migrant languages. The Building Bridges Project has made huge progress towards the successful integration of migrant angling communities in England.
Joe Kitanosono, from The Environment Agency, Fisheries Technical Specialist, said, ‘We have a fantastic working relationship with Hadlow College, we work with tomorrow’s fishermen” The Police and the Angling Trust are key parties, and it is great to involve the College, so students can see the process.”
Sergeant Darren Walshaw, Kent Police, said ‘Operation Traverse is a national operation regarding illegal fishing. Today is about giving officers input and knowledge around legislation and their powers and first-hand of what to look for to prove offences’.
Reinforcing the importance of the training day Brian Bailey, Commercial Fisheries Manager at Hadlow College, said, ‘The theft of fish or of fishing tackle is a huge problem that we face and threatens the whole of the UK’s fish farming community. Events like this are vitally important for all parties involved especially our students who are the fisher people of the future.’
The event utilised Hadlow College’s excellent facilities at Grove Farm and was a fantastic opportunity for the College students to engage with the Environment Agency and
the Angling Trust and the Police.
To help tackle fish theft and illegal fishing, if you notice any suspicious behaviour, call the Environment Agency Hotline on 0800 807060 or the Police on 101.