WRONGDOERS ARE TOLD: DON’T RISK IT
EA’s closed-season Operation Clampdown hailed a huge success
AN ENFORCEMENT programme designed to catch illegal anglers has proved highly successful, Angling Times can reveal.
Operation Clampdown 6 saw Environment Agency enforcement officers make 927 patrols during the 2018 three-month break on rivers – detecting 117 closedseason and 135 other offences.
The programme was supported by nearly 500 volunteers from the Voluntary Bailiff Service (VBS) offering back-up ‘eyes and ears’ on the bank.
Dilip Sarkar MBE, national enforcement manager with the Angling Trust, said: “This is our most successful Operation Clampdown yet, with a record number of volunteers trained and available and more than 70 joint patrols with the Environment Agency or the police.
“The VBS is making a tangible contribution to tackling illegal fishing, which is welcomed by the Angling Trust and our partners.” Alongside the EA’s closed season clampdown triumph a national fishing licence blitz, which covered the first two weeks of the new season, checked 1,461 licences and reported 88 fishing illegally without a licence.
Graeme Storey, fisheries manager for the Environment Agency, said: “Our EA enforcement patrols continue all year round. Anyone tempted to fish illegally should know that they are likely to be challenged at any time of the day or night.
“With the support of our partners and the VBS there is an increased likelihood of being caught out – don’t risk it.”