Tees Poachers
This from the local news. I believe there are further cases to be heard later this week.
Illegal fishing below the Tees Barrage landed two men with hefty fines.
The pair were ordered to pay a total of £2,200 following prosecutions for illegally trying to catch salmon by “foul-hooking” and “snatching” them on the River Tees.
Barry Gordon Sinclair, 62, of Farringdon Drive, Marton, pleaded guilty at Teesside Magistrates Court to seven charges of “snatching” - an illegal method of catching fish by dragging a hook through the water to impale or foul-hook fish, before dragging them onto the riverbank.
He also pleaded guilty to an offence of landing and keeping a foul-hooked salmon. He was fined £700 and was ordered to pay costs of £1,000 to the Environment Agency.
Sinclair’s fishing equipment was ordered to be made forfeit and he was banned from holding a fishing licence for two years.
Jeffery Patton, 56, of Newcommen Terrace, Redcar, pleaded guilty at Teesside Magistrates to five charges, and was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 costs to the Environment Agency.
Paul Harley, prosecuting, told the court the River Tees had become an important salmon river, with many anglers using it. The river is tidal below the Tees Barrage, and when the tide is low migratory fish gather there in large numbers waiting to pass upstream.
EA officers were running a covert surveillance between August and October 2008, and filmed both defendants foul-hooking and snatching fish. EA fisheries officer David Shears said: “These illegal activities will not be tolerated and the Environment Agency will continue to carry out enforcement activities to protect the region’s valuable fish resources.”
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