06/01/2005 - A North Devon
man was today ordered to pay £100
in fines and costs for illegally netting
salmon on the River Taw.
Stephen Cook, 45, of The Flat, Railway Cottage,
Fremington Quay, Barnstaple, was caught
by Environment Agency officers on a routine
anti-poaching patrol on the Taw on May 26,
2004.
Officers saw Cook carrying a net from Fremington
Quay down to the foreshore and putting it
in a small boat. He then rowed upstream
towards Barnstaple and was seen laying the
net in the river, fastening it at one end
to a boulder to hold it in position before
anchoring the boat.
Cook later pulled in the net and removed
four fish. He then retrieved the entire
length of the net and rowed back downstream
to his mooring.
The number of licensed salmon nets operating
within the Taw/Torridge has recently been
reduced from 13 to three, as part of a joint
buy-out option funded by the riparian owners
and the North Atlantic Salmon Trust which
will last for ten years.
"This type of offence is serious as
it has the potential to harm the limited
salmon stocks within the estuary. The area
in which the net was being operated has
been used in the past as a salmon netting
station, but that has been stopped under
this agreement," said Robert Harwood
for the Environment Agency.
In court, Cook said he didn’t know about
the agreement and didn’t realise he was
doing anything wrong. He was fined £60
and ordered to pay £40 costs by Barnstaple
magistrates after pleading guilty to using
an authorised net in tidal waters contrary
to the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act
1975. The seized net will be destroyed by
the Environment Agency.
