Poaching and Pollution
Poaching
Poaching has become more of a problem on game fish rivers in recent years perhaps due to the prices that fish such as wild salmon and sea trout fetch in restaurants. ‘Professional’ poachers operate mostly on the lower stretches of the Ribble near Clitheroe and Preston although suspicious vans have been seen at Langcliffe Locks and further up Ribblesdale.
We hope that every SAA member will play their part in trying to control this problem. If you see a suspicious vehicle parked near our fishing beats that doesn’t have a Settle Anglers sticker in the windscreen, make a note of the registration and report it to one of the contacts listed below.
Remember – there are no day tickets issued for Settle waters. Every angler you see should either be a member or be with a member on a guest ticket.
You should always wear your badge while fishing, and it is good practice that all members show each other their badges without being asked – this is the only way we can keep a check on human predation of our waters. Please do not react badly to being asked to show your membership discs. It is for all our sakes that we should all be vigilant on the river.
Please enter our bailiff’s numbers into your mobile telephone so that you can contact them straight away to report an incident or rural crime. Please make a note of and, if possible and safe to do so, photograph any car and registration number.
SAA take poaching very seriously and anyone found poaching will be prosecuted. If you see anything at all suspicious on or near the river then contact any of the following:
Environment Agency incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60
Non-emergency Police: 101
In an emergency phone: 999
Pollution
Pollution can be anything from recently dipped sheep on a watercourse to sewage or effluent discharges into a watercourse.
One discharge of sheep dip into a Welsh river killed all invertebrate life for a good quarter of a mile downstream destroying the fish habitat. With no insects in the river the fish have nothing to live on.
If you see pollution of any kind then ring the Environment Agency (EA) hotline 0800 80 70 60
It is imperative that any report made to the EA Hotline is also reported, with the EA Incident Reference, to the Ribble Fisheries Consultative Association (RFCA). This will enable the RFCA to track the incident, assist the appropriate bodies and help the RFCA in building important data.
To report directly to the Ribble Rivers Consultative Association go to their website at www.ribblefisheriesca.co.uk and click the appropriate link from the Home Page.
Useful links:
The Vanishing Eel
The Irish Eel Fishermen – an endangered species