pretty weak arguement, comparing speeding to threatening people over assumed ownership of something in the wild, and polluting the environment
where do I get mine, in the north east?? simple I don't, and very rarely do I buy them either. Mainly as I rarely fish the north east coast anymore, especially not the piers. But yes I do buy them now and then from tackle shops, and yes I am aware they are an illegal product, as I'd be very suprised if any tackle shop anywhere takes crab to re-sell from someone who is licenced commercially to exploit them. because thats what we are talking about isn't it, commercial exploitation if they are in a shop.
Elsewhere (scotland/devon/cornwall) I spend time looking for crab where they should be, once I've got enough for a session, maybe 10 or 12, I leave it at that and go fishing. any left over go in the freezer, and are taken out for the next trip.
The insanity of this whole "mine" debate became polarised for me last month when a grown man in his forties points a garden fork at an 8 year old boy and tells him 'go near my ****ing traps and I'll break your ****ing arms'.
So what I want to know and would love to understand is what makes anything in a tyre on a beach yours, mine, his hers or whoevers. If I go and dump a row of tyres next to yours and collect whats in them, what then, are they then automatically mine?? you going to be perfectly happy with that, or do we then progress to thats my bit of beach/river bank?? You never going to look in my tyres when your in yours and leave the contents alone??, If I take the boat along the pier wall dumping bags of groundbait, does that make all the fish caught from the pier that day mine??
removing so many might even be self defeating, maybe its a contributing factor to the reasons there's less cod inshore and in the river - there's less of their natural food source.
In the long run, the 'mine' attitude will only bring attention to the collectors from the various authorities that have an interest. The everyone is screwed
so much for angling being a social and civilised sport.