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More than £20,000-worth of illegal fishing nets have been
seized from Plymouth Sound over the past year, according to the
Environment Agency.
The Agency says that with only one patrol boat to monitor a wide
area, it's often difficult to catch the poachers who set them.
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The
Environment Agency patrol boat, on night-time duty
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Water bailiffs
chase fishermen suspected of illegally setting nets to catch bass,
sea trout and salmon.
But with only
one boat to patrol five estuaries, Plymouth Sound and the coastal
areas, Mark Pilcher, of the Agency, says that catching the offenders
is a rare event.
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Catching
the nets is one thing - netting the offenders is proving a
tougher task for the Environment Agency
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"Ideally
we'd like to catch the offenders, and seize their vehicle and boat,
but in reality we try to tackle the the thing that causes the most
environmental damage - the nets," he said.
Ten miles of
suffocating gill nets have been seized from the Sound over the past
year.
With stock levels
currently very low, they threaten salmon and sea trout coming in
to spawn.
Those responsible have so far escaped the net, but
if they are pulled in, they face fines up to £2,000.
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