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Post by Hoppy on Nov 12, 2007 21:56:29 GMT -1
At Cardiff Magistrates Court last week (9.11.07) two men from the St Mellons area were ordered to pay a combined total of £2,100 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to fishing offences on the River Taff below Blackweir, in November last year. Rodney Charles Morgan of Melville Avenue and Nigel Mark Sheppard of Meadowsweet Drive also had to forfeit their fishing equipment.
The Court was told that on Wednesday 8 November 2006 the Agency received information from a member of the public reporting individuals fishing by rod and line on the River Taff at Blackweir.
The next day a team of Agency officers took up positions near Blackweir and at around 6.30 am two men, later identified as Morgan and Sheppard appeared and started fishing by rod and line in the weir pool. Morgan caught and killed four large fish, placed them in a black bag, hid it in undergrowth, returned to the river and resumed fishing.
At this point the officers crossed over a footbridge towards Morgan and Sheppard, who then stopped fishing and began to walk away. They were intercepted by the officers as they reached the top of the bank.
One of the officers spoke to Sheppard, informed him that he had been observed poaching salmon and cautioned him. When asked for his name and address he became abusive, refused to provide details, and was placed under arrest. Morgan provided what proved to be his correct name and address but had no identification on him, and so he was also arrested.
A search of the woodland area revealed a plastic bag containing four large hen salmon.
Both men were taken to Cardiff Central Police Station where their identities were verified
Steve Barker, Agency Senior Enforcement Officer said:
“The Taff is a marvellous example of a recovering industrial river. The Agency and its' partners have invested heavily in bringing salmon stocks back, to what only a generation ago, was a virtually fishless river. Salmon stocks are a key indicator of a good environment. The illegal exploitation of salmon, by whatever means, can have a major impact on future stocks. The 4 female salmon destroyed in this instance deprived the River Taff of some 5 per cent of its' potential spawning stock. The Agency takes such matters very seriously and it is reassuring to see that this is reflected by the sentencing of the Court. This case should serve as a serious deterrent."
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Post by highplains on Nov 12, 2007 22:38:14 GMT -1
Well done EAW!
Regards.
Highplains
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Post by beanzy on Nov 13, 2007 5:32:36 GMT -1
The Court was told that on Wednesday 8 November 2006 the Agency received information from a member of the public reporting individuals fishing by rod and line on the River Taff at Blackweir. The next day a team of Agency officers took up positions near Blackweir and at around 6.30 am two men, later identified as Morgan and Sheppard appeared and started fishing by rod and line in the weir pool. Well done Morgan and Sheppard for oblidging by coming back to the same spot the next day when the EA were able to send someone along. Wouldn't it be handier if the poachers all were this dumb?.
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Post by Diawlbach on Nov 13, 2007 7:16:04 GMT -1
The thing that baffled me about this case was why the bailiffs let the poachers kill four fish before they apprehended them - but maybe that's just nit picking. Good result anyway, I live about 500 yards away from Blackweir and see some incredible runs of salmon taking the weir in a flood, usually after the season ends unfortunately. About seven years ago there was such a big run of fish I'm told that people were able to stand by the edge of the weir and use their jackets to land them.
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Post by sewinbasher on Nov 13, 2007 8:07:23 GMT -1
Well done the EA but can anyone please explain how 4 hen salmon represent 5% of the spawning potential of the Taff as I can't see it. That suggests to me that the spawning potential of the river is 80 fish but that can't be right can it?
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Post by spencer on Nov 13, 2007 8:33:12 GMT -1
Again,well done to the E.A. Having fished the Taff a fair bit this year, I find it very hard to locate salmon in the upper reaches.You dont find the fish jumping or bow waving as they move up the river.Maybe there is not that many entering the bay? As Diawal Bach said if you go to Blackweir or Radyr Weir you can see some amazing sites. But then these areas do attract the bad element of people intent on destroying a river that is coming back to becoming a great river.
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Post by Diawlbach on Nov 13, 2007 9:28:55 GMT -1
The salmon statistics for the Taff are pretty grim but to say four fish represent 5% of the spawning stock is rubbish when viewed alongside the number of fish trapped at Blackweir www.cardiffharbour.com/barrage/info.htmunless the potential spawning stock is seen as the number of fish which the EA caught as broodstock from what was until 2003 the impassable weir at Treforest. The salmon run of the Taff has been a man managed affair for quite a while. www.cardiffharbour.com/environment/c_fish.htmIt does make one wonder why 50,000 smolts a year were thrown into the Taff for over ten years when huge lengths of spawning beds were blocked by obstructions, but things are changing in that respect so perhaps the river will eventually support a self sustaining population of salmon despite the barrage
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Post by sewinfly on Nov 13, 2007 10:46:58 GMT -1
I was speaking to an E.A. officer and he told me that they have been recording the fish that have the radio tag inside themselves as is picked up as they leave the Bay and head out to sea. But this was only a small percentage of fish.
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Post by Diawlbach on Nov 13, 2007 11:51:22 GMT -1
About 15% of those radio tagged fish turned up in the drift nets according to an EA presentation which I saw a couple of years ago. It's hard to know whether this accurately represents the number of fish intercepted by the netters or if far more were caught and not reported.
As Spencer said you rarely see the fish in the Taff other than at the weirs, they keep their heads down, so it's hard to form any opinion on any increase in the numbers unless the fish counter - a less than completely reliable machine - picks them up.
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Post by sewinfly on Nov 13, 2007 14:01:31 GMT -1
I agree with you Diawal Bach,I think the salmon do keep there heads down on this river for some reason and only in flood at the weirs do you notice them. I had one salmon this season from the Taff which was the ever so lean fish on the forum(returned). There was reports of some nice doubles above Treforest I heard of in my local tackle shop. Have you had many sewin this year from the Taff? I had a couple of fresh ones but very few and far between. (spencer is sewinfly, forgot to log on)
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Post by kingfisheryh02nxs on Nov 13, 2007 14:30:07 GMT -1
With fines like this one (ie) £2100, this has surly got to be a strong deterrent to poachers. But most fines are much smaller, how come there is such inconsistency with fines. It's almost like saying you can poach this river and we will give you a slap on the wrist, but if you poach this one we ll hammer you. Or is it a case when some people get to court they say they have 10 kids to look after and a drug habit to support.
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Post by sewinfly on Nov 13, 2007 14:46:20 GMT -1
I wonder how many fish they have caught and killed in the past years Kingfisher especially hen fish laden with eggs!killing fish for their own greed. Maybe the E.A. should of followed them to see if they were selling to local restaurants.
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Post by Diawlbach on Nov 14, 2007 7:20:45 GMT -1
I suppose the fine was unusually high as either the fish were perceived as being more valuable being taken from a recovering river or purely because the crime was tried in an urban setting where poaching unusual. A fine like this will definitely be talked about , let's hope it has an effect on the lads who poach another river by the weir at Llanrhymney
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Post by bulltrout on Nov 15, 2007 6:50:11 GMT -1
maybe the large fines were a result of them being persistent offenders.
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oscar
Sewin Nut
Posts: 104
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Post by oscar on Nov 15, 2007 8:01:23 GMT -1
Not sure how these clowns were fishing, but 4 large salmon in the bag in a relatively short time is no mean feat! Do we know if they were 'normal' fishing methods (worm, spinner, etc) or snatching?
If the former, they may make very good fishermen!
Oscar
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Post by Diawlbach on Nov 15, 2007 23:52:14 GMT -1
Throwing a rapala out in the pool below Blackweir in the right conditions is comparable to shooting fish in a barrel, salmon congregate in numbers waiting to summon the energy to get upstream and they're easy to catch. These poachers were not only fishing out of season they were also fishing in an area where fishing is prohibited. The exclusion zone extends both above and below the weir. Just in case you fish the Taff here's a list of obstructions along the river where you have to refrain from fishing, all from the byelaws - environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/wls_rod_byelaws_1099672.pdf- (i) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of Blackweir on the River Taff and two marks sited 75 metres downstream of Blackweir. (ii) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of Llandaff Weir on the River Taff and two marks sired 50 metres downstream of Llandaff Weir. (iii) Between two marks sited 120 metres upstream of Radyr Weir on the River Taff and two marks sited 50 metres downstream of Radyr Weir. (iv) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of Treforest Weir on the River Taff and two marks sired 40 metres downstream of Treforest Weir. (v) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of Merthyr Weir on the River Taff and two marks sited 50 metres downstream of Merthyr Weir. (vi) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of Merthyr Vale Weir on the River Taff and two marks sited 52 metres downstream of the said Weir. (vii) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream and two marks sited 113 metre downstream of the top of the upper fall at Quakers Yard Gorge on the River Taff. (viii) Between two marks sited 27.4 metres upstream of the weir below the A472 road bridge over the River Taff at NGR ST 093 957 and 50 metres downstream of the said weir
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Post by jj1 on Nov 16, 2007 17:29:22 GMT -1
befor the fish pass was put in on radyr wier, the fish used to drop back into the wall pool some 300 yds below the wier, this pool became famous at the time in the late 80's to lale 90,s pre barrage days, fish could be caught here consistently from mid july onwards, this changed with the fish pass openning as the fish had no need to drop back downstream. the other really good spot was below blackwier itself. there used to be a run either side of the long island directly below the wier, the left hand run was at times phenomenal! the spring/early summer salmon run of the early/mid nineties was something to behold, in one week alone in early may in 1997, 60+ fish got caught in this one run alone! it seems more than coincidence to me that as soon as cardiff bay was damed the spring run on the usk re established itself!!!!!!! back to the wiers, to collect broodstock for the re stocking program, salmon where fished for in the wier pools and it was like shooting ducks in a barrel, it was not uncommon for 6 anglers to get 20 salmon in an hour! ps, ive got 3 salmon in the pool below my house on the rhondda, so the fish have made it up the system ok, just hope they get left alone without to much hassle off the local ejits. jj
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Post by sewinbasher on Nov 17, 2007 9:36:35 GMT -1
There was a piece on the BBC Wales local news last night featuring the capture of broodstock at Blackweir by anglers. They were catching them at a fair rate although most were surprisingly small. The EA were there delivering the anti-poaching message and briefly talked about the recent fines, the hatchery at Brecon and re-introducing parr/smolts.
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Post by Barcud on Nov 17, 2007 11:32:42 GMT -1
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Post by dai on Nov 17, 2007 15:59:28 GMT -1
At least its good to see fines of this size, it gives out a message to other would be poachers, to stay away. and the EA saying on the news program, that they will not be stopping watching and catching other offenders, good on them. ;D ;D
Dai..
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