Three men have been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling more than £1,300 for poaching with illegal fishing nets in the River Derwent in Gateshead.

Scott McGuire, 30, of Beach Road, South Shields, appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 24 May, where he pleaded guilty to using gill nets to catch fish at Durham Bank, Rowlands Gill. He was fined £120, ordered to pay £300 costs and a victim surcharge of £30.

Stuart Ashall, 45, also of Beach Road, appeared previously on 4 January for the same offence where he pleaded guilty and was fined £180, ordered to pay £400 in costs and a victim surcharge of £30.

A third man, John Britten, 34, of Belgrave Road in South Shields, had also previously pleaded guilty to the same office and was fined £45, ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £30 at a court hearing on 8 November last year.

Gill nets are designed to catch fish by their gills and are rarely licensed in rivers due to their indiscriminate nature and the fact that fish caught in the nets will usually suffocate and die.

Illegal gill net

Representing the Environment Agency, solicitor Chris Bunting told the court that Environment Agency enforcement officers were patrolling the River Derwent on 22 July 2016, looking for people fishing illegally.

At 12.40pm they came across a tent with the three men asleep, two inside and one outside. In the river next to them was a gill net set across the river. There was also a salmon head on the ground.

The men said the net had been there when they arrived and they had got the salmon from a supermarket.

However, investigations from a fisheries expert concluded the remains were of an adult wild migratory salmon which had been subject to physical trauma before death and exposed to the natural environment post death. A fish bought from a supermarket would be farmed.

Two of the men attended for voluntary interviews on 8 August, 2016, where they said they did not know there was a net in the river until the enforcement officers had pointed it out, adding they had met some strangers on the riverbank the night before, who spoke to them before leaving. They reiterated the salmon was from a supermarket.

Net is extremely damaging

Following the case David Shears, Senior Fisheries Enforcement Officer for the Environment Agency in the North East, said:

The River Derwent is a recovering river that had been previously affected by industry but which has been slowly improving.

Water quality has improved drastically and a fish pass has been installed in Blaydon which has resulted in fish returning and repopulating the river system.

Gill nets such as the one used in this case are designed to catch fish by their gills and can be extremely damaging to fish stocks. Illegal fishing like this can have a devastating impact, especially on recovering rivers such as the Derwent.

We’re committed to tackling illegal fishing of all kinds and we’ll continue to work closely with police and angling clubs, supported by the Angling Trust, to target those flouting the law and take enforcement action.

All income from rod licence sales is used to fund Environment Agency work to protect and improve fish stocks and fisheries, including improving habitats for fish and facilities for anglers, tackling illegal fishing and working with partners to encourage people to give fishing a go.

Buying a rod licence is quick and easy – you can buy them online

Environment Agency enforcement officers in Nottinghamshire will be patrolling waters throughout the East Midlands this bank holiday weekend (26 to 28 May 2018) as part of a clampdown on illegal fishing.

The officers will be making sure anyone fishing is obeying the law. They’ll be checking that people are not fishing in waters closed to anglers, are using the right tackle and equipment, and have a valid fishing licence.

Fish legally this bank holiday

Bank holiday weekends are a great opportunity for families to get out and do some fishing on waterways and the Environment Agency is keen to ensure everyone is enjoying themselves and doing the right thing.

In April this year, enforcement officers checked 1,074 anglers, with the majority being fully licensed and compliant. In that period, officers reported 31 people for offences. During the last May bank holiday weekend, 530 anglers were checked and 30 people were reported for offences.

Callum Underhill, fisheries enforcement officer at the Environment Agency, said:

We will once again be out and about around the county this bank holiday to make sure everyone is fishing legally. Anyone caught breaking the law can expect to face prosecution.

We regularly carry out enforcement operations in order to protect fish stocks and improve fisheries. We take all kinds of illegal fishing extremely seriously, whether it’s fishing without a licence, using illegal equipment or fishing in the close season.

Illegal fishing is not just unfair on other anglers who fish within the law, it also endangers the future of the sport by damaging the sustainability of fish stocks, so it is important for people to report to us any information about suspected illegal fishing so we can investigate.

Officers to target hotspots

The Environment Agency’s work is intelligence-led and officers work closely with partners to target known hotspots and act on reports of illegal fishing.

Anglers are reminded that it is currently the close season for coarse fishing, so fishing for coarse fish on rivers and streams is not permitted. This is to protect breeding fish, helping to safeguard stocks for the future. Anglers are encouraged to check which waterways are open to fishing by reading their area’s byelaws.

Investing in fish

Money from fishing licence sales is invested in England’s fisheries, and is used to fund a wide range of projects to improve facilities for anglers, including protecting stocks, restoring fish stocks through re-stocking, eradicating invasive species, and making fish habitat improvements. Fishing licence money is also used to fund the Angling Trust to provide information about fishing and to encourage participation in the sport.

Anyone who wants to go fishing needs to buy a fishing licence. A full annual licence costs from just £30 and is available online.

The Environment Agency (EA) has released hundreds of thousands of roach and bream larvae into the River Witham on Friday (25 May 2018), to kick-start the river’s recovery process following a major pollution incident in early March.

Following the pollution of the river in March, which is estimated to have caused the death of at least 100,000 fish, the EA has been working to bring those responsible to justice, as well as to ensure that the river recovers as quickly as possible.

Pollution killed at least 100,000 fish

The EA has staff dedicated to the pollution incident full-time and is continuing to take regular samples of the water quality in the Witham as the river recovers.

The release of the larvae into the river forms an important first step on the road to recovery, which could take many months or even years as the river’s complex ecosystem gets back to full health.

The fish larvae have come from the EA’s national fish farm in Calverton, which produces around 450,000 fish of 9 species each year for re-stocking. Calverton Fish Farm is funded by income from fishing licence fees, and last year it delivered more than 6 million advanced reared larvae back into the wild.

First step in river’s recovery

Environment manager Simon Mitchell said:

The release of thousands of larvae, reared by our own fish farm in Calverton into the River Witham, marks an important step on the road to the river’s recovery.

According to our latest estimates, the pollution incident in March caused the death of no fewer than 100,000 fish – although the exact figure is likely to be higher. As a river is a complex ecosystem with different species recovering at different rates, the full recovery process may take many months or even years.

We take pollution incidents like this extremely seriously and will always seek to prosecute those who negligently damage our precious environment and wildlife. We have staff continuing to work on this pollution incident full-time, as the river progresses through the recovery phase.

Re-stocking is made possible through fishing licence fees, which fund Calverton Fish Farm. An annual fishing licence is available from only £30, and is easily bought online.

The first major report on water resources in England states that climate change and demand from a growing population are the biggest pressures on the availability of water. Without action to increase supply, reduce demand and cut down on wastage, many areas in England could see significant supply deficits by 2050 – particularly in the south east.

The State of the Environment: Water Resources report highlights unsustainable levels of water abstraction, leakage from water companies – currently estimated at 3 billion litres per day – and demand from industry and the public as three of the issues to tackle in order to protect the water environment.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency said:

We need to change our attitudes to water use. It is the most fundamental thing needed to ensure a healthy environment but we are taking too much of it and have to work together to manage this precious resource.

Industry must innovate and change behaviours in order to reduce demand and cut down on wastage – and we all have a duty to use water more wisely at home.

With demand on the rise, water companies must invest more in infrastructure to address leakage instead of relying on abstraction and the natural environment to make up this shortfall.

The report shows that current levels of water abstraction are unsustainable in more than a quarter of groundwaters and one fifth of rivers, leading to reduced flows which could damage local ecology and wildlife.

Previously, unsustainable abstraction has prevented up to 15% of rivers meeting good ecological status – including globally important chalk streams. Summer river flows and groundwater levels may decrease further in the future.

Last year the government announced a plan for abstraction reform which will review existing licences and introduce more controls to protect water resources. The Environment Agency has started work in four priority catchments to test out new licensing approaches to help meet local demand.

Of the water taken from freshwater sources over half (55%) is abstracted by water companies for public water supply and more than a third (36%) is used for electricity supply and other industries. The Environment Agency has urged water companies to pursue ambitious water resource management plans and called on industry to play its part to find ways to use water more efficiently.

The government’s 25 year environment plan sets out an ambition to reduce individual water use – on average 140 litres per person each day – by working with industry to set a personal consumption target. The Environment Agency will work with the government to set this target and cost-effective measures to meet it.

The Environment Agency plays a key role in protecting water for people’s lives and livelihoods – by responding to pollution incidents, prosecuting offenders, regulating abstraction and improving water quality along rivers and beaches.

A team from the Environment Agency, who are leading the pilot as part of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, will be at the Upper Aire Land Management Project event at Skipton Auction Mart on Wednesday 23 May, looking to meet local farmers and landowners to seek out potential new pilot sites to trial the techniques.

Working with natural processes to reduce flood risk, known as natural flood management (NFM), is an important part of managing and reducing flood risk in a sustainable way alongside more traditional engineering solutions.

The team is hoping to build on the existing work done in the catchment by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and others, working with farmers to seek further potential sites in the upper Aire catchment to test natural flood management techniques like tree and hedgerow planting, leaky barriers and brash dams to help slow down the flow of water during a flood.

The interventions also create habitat for wildlife and help regenerate rural and urban areas through tourism.

Catchment wide approach

The natural flood management pilots form part of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, led by Leeds City Council in partnership with the Environment Agency, which has a catchment wide approach to reducing flood risk to Leeds.

This £500,000 pilot programme forms part of plans to plant hundreds of thousands of trees that will support second phase of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said:

Having started the Upper Aire tree planting in March, it is vital we work with as many farmers, landowners and stakeholders as possible as only through a partnership approach will we be able to achieve our united goal of protecting all our communities along the River Aire catchment from the risk of flooding. A lot has been achieved already through the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, but we know much more needs to be done requiring significant investment in a range of measures to put in place everything we can to avoid a repeat of the devastation of the Christmas floods of 2015 to our city and region.

Adrian Gill, Area Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency said:

The Environment Agency is committed to reducing flood risk and improving the environment for people and wildlife. The natural flood management pilot we are leading in the Aire catchment provides us with a fantastic opportunity to work with famers and landowners to secure potential sites to trial new techniques and develop future plans for the catchment.

The pilot sites will enable the team to test a range of monitoring techniques and start to build and gather an evidence base to increase their understanding on the benefits of NFM in reducing flood risk. The pilot programme is being used by the Environment Agency and Leeds City Council to develop a co-design approach to working with landowners, tenants, local authorities and other key partners such as the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the White Rose Forest. This will help to then develop future plans for the catchment.

Pilot launch

The first of thousands of trees to be planted across the upper River Aire catchment took place on the 20th March, as part of the pilot natural flood management project. Cllr Judith Blake CBE, leader of Leeds City Council, planted the first tree on site at Eshton Beck, Gargrave, witnessed by volunteers, landowners, local authorities and partners. The site now has 450 trees planted, and will play an important role in seeing how natural techniques can slow the flow of water and reduce the risk of flooding downstream.

Following the successful opening of the £50million first phase of the scheme serving the city centre, Holbeck and Woodlesford in October last year, phase two identifies measures further upstream including the Kirkstall corridor which was badly hit by the 2015 Christmas floods. It also looks at areas beyond the city boundary to further reduce the possibility of the river flooding in Leeds, as well as additional measures to offer protection for the South Bank area of the city centre which is a key future economic driver for Leeds.

Phase two is taking a catchment wide approach to reducing flood risk to Leeds through the implementation of natural flood management measures, proposals to create new woodland areas could more than double the canopy coverage throughout the River Aire catchment. Proposals also include a flood storage areas and the removal of existing obstructions along the river to improve capacity in the river. Hard flood defences will also be used and will take the form of walls, embankments, landscaping and terracing.

An outline business case for phase 2 has been completed, which was submitted at the end of January 2018. Outline design for engineered options is being progressed, which will be followed by a tender process with an aim to awarding the construction contract award in autumn 2018.

Farmers or landowners interested in finding out more about the natural flood management pilot can contact the project team by emailing LeedsFAS.nfm@environment-agency.gov.uk