Gone to court
A Somerset angler caught fishing illegally near Westbury, Wiltshire last year has been prosecuted.
Alan Joyce of Whatcombe Road, Frome was fishing at Clivey’s Lake on August 22, 2018 when he was approached by an Environment Agency water bailiff carrying out routine rod licence checks. Joyce refused to state his name and address when requested to do so by the bailiff.
In court he was ordered to pay a total of £230 by Swindon magistrates. He pleaded guilty to offences under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. These included fishing without a rod licence, failing to provide his name and address to water bailiff and awilfully obstructing a constable (bailiff).
Callum Underhill for the Environment Agency explained their zero tolerance approach “The Environment Agency will not tolerate illegal fishing, nor will we accept anglers providing false details or obstructing our officers in their duties when they are protecting fisheries“