Eyes and ears on the riverbank

Volunteer army carry out 17,000 patrols in crackdown on fish theft and poaching

It’s an early morning start for Carole Sanderson. Down on her local river the mist is rising and although she’s not seen a fox or deer today, she gets the sense she’s being watched.

Carole’s eyes, though, are fixed on the water, looking for a sign a fish is feeding or lurking in the shallows.

“It’s totally deep rooted,” admits Carole. “I’ve fished for over 60 years. I fished for the England Ladies Fly Fishing team which I really enjoyed, and I’ve met some lovely people along the way. Now I give back.”

As an active volunteer in a number of spheres, ‘giving back’ includes her role as a voluntary bailiff and Area Coordinator for Tyne Valley and Northumberland.

The Voluntary Bailiff Service is a key part of the Angling Trust’s Fisheries Enforcement Support Service, which is funded through rod licence income in partnership with the Environment Agency.

Poaching, fish theft and illegal fishing are serious issues for clubs and fisheries, and while only the police and the Environment Agency have the powers to take action against culprits, our Fisheries Enforcement team provide invaluable support through intelligence gathering and joint patrols.

“The role of a voluntary bailiff is to visit your local waters and look for signs of any illegal fishing, anyone putting nets out, or any other suspicious activity,” explains Carole. “Then, via a secure website, we report what we’ve seen, and it’s passed on to either the police or the Environment Agency.

“Being a voluntary bailiff isn’t demanding at all. You put in as much time as you want and it’s nice getting out along the river, talking to people and just taking note. If you’re going out for a walk with a dog you can be a voluntary bailiff.”

Kevin Woodcock is Regional Enforcement Support Manager for the North East and says the problems that most clubs and fisheries face are theft of fish and theft of fishing rights.

“The easiest way to describe theft of fish is that because the water is on land that’s owned by somebody, the water is also owned and therefore the contents are owned,” explains Kevin. “If a poacher or illegal angler fishes those waters and takes fish away with them, that’s theft of fish.

“Theft of fishing rights is a little more complex. If clubs or fisheries have bought, leased or rented the land, they have paid the rights to fishing. If unlicensed anglers or non-members fish those waters, they are taking away the rights of what legitimate anglers and club members have paid for.

“Both theft of fish and theft of fishing rights can be dealt with by local police officers.”

Kevin adds: “The only agencies that can approach an angler and ask to see their rod licence is a warranted Environment Agency officer or a police constable, unless you’re a voluntary bailiff on your own club waters and it’s in your club rules that any member of the committee or club bailiff has the right to see the day ticket or membership card and the rod licence.

“One of my roles is to visit clubs and fisheries and offer advice and guidance on things like signage and putting them in relevant places such as car parks, gates and entrances. We also offer training for club bailiffs to upscale them on current trends and legislation and will put them in touch with the Angling Trust’s Building Bridges team if they have an issue with migrant anglers who perhaps don’t understand the rules or have an issue with the language barrier.”

Helping people from abroad continue their passion for fishing in the UK legally is an important element of the Building Bridges team’s work.

“We’re trying to be that helping hand and explain in a very simple way what the rules are for fishing in the UK,” says Janusz Kansik, Building Bridges Project Manager who came to Britain from Poland 14 years ago.

“We do it by producing two types of multilingual signage. The first explains the law regarding the coarse fishing close season, while the second explains the requirement to have a rod licence, and a day ticket or membership. There’s also some graphics on the sign saying that you shouldn’t remove any fish from the water you are fishing.

“We also offer a free translation service for angling clubs and fisheries. All that the club need to do is send us an email with a copy of the rules and within two weeks we’ll be able to translate those rules into other languages.

“Finally, we also organise, produce and deliver multilingual leaflets to clubs and fisheries so anglers from other countries have basic information about fishing rules in England which are in Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian, Chinese and Latvian. Because we are funded by rod licence income, all of this help we offer to clubs and fisheries is free of charge.”

That support in 2023-24 extended to 78 angling clubs with the Building Bridges team supplying over 400 signs and 5,800 leaflets. During the same period, voluntary bailiffs carried out over 17,000 patrols, 44,000 hours of voluntary work and submitted over 1,000 incident reports to the Environment Agency and police.

Currently, there are 580 Voluntary Bailiffs operating across England but there are plans to extend that number to 1,400 over coming years.

Prince Albert Angling Society is just one of many clubs that have benefitted from the services of the Building Bridges North West team and the Voluntary Bailiff Service. When they took on a reservoir in Greater Manchester with a history of poaching and set lines, the Angling Trust provided multilingual signs and local voluntary bailiffs carried out regular patrols.

“Similarly, the River Dee near Chester has always had a poaching issue, and the Angling Trust run joint patrols with the Environment Agency, the police and local crime units,” says Andy Strickland, General Secretary of Prince Albert AS.

“It’s important we liaise with the Angling Trust with all these issues because they’re able to provide us with up-to-date best practice, with up-to-date intelligence, and with practical advice because they’re knowledgeable guys. It saves the club a huge amount of administration in having to search for the right answers with various other organisations and it’s just a very practical, worthwhile and simple way forward.”

The Voluntary Bailiff Service, Building Bridges and the Fisheries Enforcement Support Service are all funded by rod licence income in partnership with the Environment Agency.

Get in touch

To report illegal fishing, call the Environment Agency Incident hotline on 0800 807060. For further guidance on matters relating to poaching and fisheries crime, contact the appropriate Fisheries Enforcement Support Manager from the list below:

East of England

Adam Wall 07495 433618 adam.wall@anglingtrust.net

Yorkshire & North East

Kevin Woodcock 07947 893664 kevin.woodcock@anglingtrust.net

Midlands

Kevin Pearson 07495 433620 kevin.pearson@anglingtrust.net

Paul Thomas 07495 433621 paul.thomas@anglingtrust.net

South East

Currently vacant

South West

David Wilkins 074954 33623 david.wilkins@anglingtrust.net

For our Building Bridges team, who can assist in positive engagement with migrant anglers, contact:

Janusz Kansik 07495 433615 janusz.kansik@anglingtrust.net