In the early hours of 17 June, 2008, Mr X was discovered by Lancashire Police at his home on Thursby Road, with 25 freshwater fish (salmonoids) trapped in a large net. MR X appeared to be removing the fish from the net and from a number of plastic bags, officers also spotted a deflated dinghy in his front garden.
When questioned by officers at the scene, Mr X claimed to have taken the fish from the sea at Heysham, but on further questioning, he later admitted to having poached them from the Lune Estuary. Mr X also admitted to not having a licence to fish.
Richard McIlwain, Fisheries Team Leader for Lancashire said: “The removal of 25 fish from the Lune Estuary could have had a huge impact on fish stocks. If half the fish were female, there would potentially be a net loss to the river of around 60,000 salmon eggs.”
“Considerable time, effort and money has been spent on improving the fishery on the Lune, and for somebody to come along and just help themselves could have caused major set backs both ecologically and financially. Any re-stocking works will bring about considerable costs.”
“This is a significant case for the Environment Agency and we are satisfied with the result, let this be a warning to those who think poaching pays.”
Duncan Thomas, Lancashire Police Wildlife officer adds: “This is a classic example of successful partnership work between the Police and the Environment Agency, we are very happy with the conviction and sentence, and hope this sends a very clear message to poachers - that we are targeting them. We believe the fish would have been sold on for financial gain, so this fine will go a long way to redress the balance.”
During a formal interview with Environment Agency officers on 21 July, 08, Mr X responded to questioning with a ‘no comment’ response throughout. At the time of this incident Mr X was already on police bail in relation to offences of deception.
Source: The Environment Agency
