YOUR LETTERS

What’s on your minds

I WAS disappointed to read the criticism of the Environment Agency’s enforcement activity and our work with the Voluntary Bailiff Service (Is the EA failing our fisheries?). We recognise that the unprecedented pressures of the initial coronavirus lockdown did impact our field-based activity.

However, throughout this time our staff continued to attend incidents that could have caused the most harm to people and the environment. Like other organisations, the EA followed Government guidance and based our decisions on our duty to minimise the spread of the virus and protect the public and our staff.

To our knowledge, the EA received no request from the Home Office to assist police during lockdown. Once angling was deemed a permitted activity, and as lockdown restrictions were eased, fisheries enforcement was one of the EA’s first field-based activities to restart.

During these difficult times my staff were effective in combating illegal poaching, seizing illegal traps, jointly working with police and other professional enforcement partners and checking fishing licences. Despite court closures, our officers also continued to progress case file work on new and previous offences.

The article claims that our staff did not respond to all incidents reported by the VBS.

The VBS act as our essential ‘eyes and ears’. The information they provide helps us target resources effectively. Our incident attendance is riskbased, and while our officers are always on the ground, they cannot be everywhere.

Where we cannot attend, this information is still used to help us map illegal activity and identify hotspots to target future patrols. The intelligence they gather is never wasted.

Dr Kevin Austin, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment