Quick question...

[wheres the fish?]

Is there a law on how close gill nets are too the shoreline? If so how close? Can they be within 20ft of the shorline and stretch nearly half a mile out?

[wheres the fish?]

Anybody????

[codcatcher3000]

there summit about being able to put ur net between low water and high water mark ...or is that dry your net between high n lo water mark as allowed by the magna carta passed by king john ? i am not too sure ...why not ring the marine ppl based in newcastle? About us even if they are allowed to put their nets that close....i dont like it ...

[apollo mk3]

they want shot with sh@t for putting them that close in !

[YoursTruly]

Is there a law on how close gill nets are too the shoreline? If so how close? Can they be within 20ft of the shorline and stretch nearly half a mile out?

I have been onto the fishery protection for years and all i get is:

As long as the boat dropping the nets is under 30ft in length then they can drop as close to shore as they like without breaking the law.

Last time i spoke with them was sept 2010, things may have changed since then.

To be quite honest i think they dont give a damn unless of course the nets are taking salmon, seatrout or bass.

If the net is that close get in and cut it.

[wheres the fish?]

Well I kid you not guys it was a dropping tide and the net was no more than 20 ft from the shoreline taking salmon and bass. When taking pictures the boat started turning it's name away. And wouldn't lift it's nets when I was there. I went away and with binocs seen bass and salmon both being pulled out. With the net stretching past the length of walkworth Peir out. Diabolical it is.

[sam harris]

I believe there is supposed to be 4 metres of water above the top of the net if it's a gill net. Give Mike Hardy a ring at Blyth he's Sea Fisheries if you have any details, photographs etc. of the boat in question tell Mike. His number is 01670 731399.

[loopy]

Nifca

The byelaws are different from area to area Warkworth is within the Northumberland Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority look at byelaw 4, fixed engines.
Northumberland Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (NIFCA) (they are different south of the Tyne North Eastern IFCA)
These byelaws are coming up for review as are many other things regarding IFCAs in the future . I am currently asking for support on the Shore Angling Issues section of this site (Sea Angling 2012) but not a lot of interest ?
The boat in question was probably a Salmon boat (Coble) and authorised by the Environment Agency. please if you have any further information and or I can be of any help please do not hesitate to contact me.

[waldof]

This is a reply I received concerning nets off meggies burn on blyth beach last year.
I don't know if arthur is still there but you can try and contact him


"When were these nets shot off "Meggies Burn"? there have been some set lines of baited hooks set in that area over a couple of tides this winter. During the summer months, the Licensed Salmon netters can actually anchor their net on the beach at one end, though they must be in attendance, as a Salmon net is a top set net, the top line floating on the surface. these nets should never be left unattended by the licence holder. If you do witness a net being left, please contact me immediately and I will deal with them. No net should be indiscriminately set, especially very close in, these are probably illegal Salmon poachers and need to be reported to the environment agency on: 0800 807060 as a poaching incident, and they will deal with the net and its owners through the courts.

I do understand your concerns for water user safety, but with 79 miles of coastline in Northumberland I would hope there is room for everyone.

Regards

Arthur
Arthur Cranson.
South East Northumberland Coastal Warden
Tel: 01670 797323 Mobile: 07932440838"

[el_sid]

i know the netters have just as much right as us to fish(the legal ones anyway) but i cant stand nets or the people that use them

they have all the sea and then ruin close insore marks normally where i fish!!

couple of years ago i was catching alot of bass regularly from one area on bait and returning them as most where undersize, that area got netted and now it is ruined and will take years to recover just to be netted again

this country needs to sort alot of things out and laws on fishing and enforcing them is a big problem!!

[BAZACODBASHA]

"If the net is that close get in and cut it"............would strongly advise against this. The net will drift all over the place with a seious risk of either snagging around a boats propeller, or worse : entangling a bather in it. Could you then live with knowing a small child had been drowned ? OK I know that might sound a bit extreme, but that sort of risk no matter how small is NOT worth taking.

[YoursTruly]

Hi Bazza

I trust your referring to my remarks, yes you are correct, what i meant to saya was cut it into bits.

You are quite correct in what you say and apart from those things if the net were allowed to drift it would still be fishing.

[wheres the fish?]

Well this is the video i took, look in the water for the first buoy 20 ft away from the shoreline. The boat was in attendance so i guess it must not be illegal, and it was under 30ft. But from where im standing whats the point of fishing the beach? It would take one of those nets 1 day to clear that section of the beach of fish with a decent stamp. Seems wrong to be able to shoot nets that close in. Thats why ive been campaigning for the golden mile for a while now. Ive been standing on a beach speaking to a trawler trawling the beach, in front of me. Now if that's not ridiculous i dont know what is.

[loopy]

The 30ft is nothing to do with it. "wheres the fish?" I have sent you a long PM to try and clarify the two Byelaws and the Common Fisheries Policy that make this subject ridiculously complicated and in my opinion wrong. I am trying to put my point over to Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority who are new under the New Marine Act and have the word Conservation in the title. They have to review the Byelaws for Northumberland within the next 4 years so we have a chance to change them if we had the support ? This also goes for South of the Tyne who have the same Environment Agency salmon licence but different local Byelaws made from the old North East Sea Fisheries Committee who are now called the North Eastern IFCA.