Published Oct 3. 2007 - 16 years ago
Updated or edited Aug 8. 2015

Illegal Nets !!

Today i fished a new section of my local coastline to find in my horror :shock: :x ilegal positioned nets 1 metre from shore. I stumbled and got my feet all wound up in these god dam nets ("sorry for the outburst") but I was so mad !!

During my 4 hours of fishing I came across 6 illegal unmarked nets. On my return home i contacted the authorities of the location of the nets. They said they will check the location and remove the nets.

2 km from the location I was fishing there is a feeder river where the fish go up to spawn. so that made me even more mad. :evil:

I do hope the authorities investigation comes out with a good outcome. But as we all know there are no markings on these nets, so it it hard for the authorities to find the real culpret all they can do is remove the offending nets.

After all that trouble. Even though I did not catch anything in my short fishing trip. I feel happy that these nets will be removed to protect the future generations of seatrout.

Now im calming down !!! :roll:
Steve

Rodney's picture

Steve, so that's your excuse...

Steve, so that's your excuse for not catching any fish eh? :lol:

Too bad about the nets. What's the difference between unmarked illegal nets and marked legal nets in Denmark? As I understand, licenses for marked nets are available for ordinary citizens there?

Stephen Wade's picture

Rodney.. Well the unmarked...

Rodney.. Well the unmarked nets - you walk into without knowing. :shock: The marked nets with a little homemade black flag you can avoid to step in them but they are way too close to shore to be legal.

Stephen Wade's picture

Here is a link to read more...

Here is a link to read more on illegal net fishing in Denmark.

[url]http://ulovlige.net/[/url]

Rodney's picture

Ooh, good link. Thanks! Now I...

Ooh, good link. Thanks! Now I just need to get Nina to translate it... Well, after she finishes her M Sc, Paper first...

Morten2's picture

Actually that site is nothing...

Actually that site is nothing to be proud off, it encourage Danes to turn other citizens into the authorities if fishing with illegal or unmarked fishing nets. It would be better if Fishing in Denmark was divided into Sport fishing only, and Comercial fishing. I have heard that in Canada you have divided the fish spieces into some regarded as sport fishes, and some as Commercial spieces???

Chers

Morten.

PS. Great videos on the fishingwithrod site, is that Tryggevaelle river?? I fished there as a kid sometimes, dreaming about BC while working my cheap heawy Shakespeare glassfiber rod ;) (but didn't catch any sea runs) .

Stephen Wade's picture

Morten, I am not proud to...

Morten, I am not proud to report to the authorities but when it needs to be done about illegal nets causing a problem with spawning fish and people who use the beach. why not use the means that it is set up for. The other solution would be to wait and see if the persons turn up to empty the nets and face them face to face and get in to a heated discussion, I have no time and i do not wish to do that.

Yes i agree Sport fishing and commercial would be the way to go. I have no problem with people who want to purchase there licence to have a small net for there personal use to catch crabs and place the net at the correct distance from shore in order not to interfere with other people using the beach for fishing or bathing.

Steve

Knowing this might be a...

Knowing this might be a touchy issue from a couple of perspectives, I still put in my 5 cts.
I love to fish the Danish coast for seatrout whenever possible from a job/time/family position but...
gill nets for seatrout (even the legal ones) are something beyond my comprehension. It has been proven time and again that the revenues an area receives from sportfishermen is anywhere from 10 times (and up) the money commercial fishermen are fetching for their catches. So there is no sense in this occupation from a macro economic point of view. We are looking at a couple of people getting fish for the market and some cash for themselves putting off potential fishing tourists.
I work the fish industry and the need for wildcaught salmonids from European waters (including the baltic) is very limited if existing.
US Pacific salmon being a different story alltogether. Europeans could learn a lot from the way the Alaskan salmon (and Pollock stocks for that matter) are managed.
TL
Florian

(Il)legal net fishing is a...

(Il)legal net fishing is a serious problem in The Netherlands. We used to have salmon and trout in our rivers a long time ago. Due to rising economy and the pollution that came along with it the salmon and seatrout became an endangered specie in a short period. Thanks to al the hard work on the environment and cleaning up industry the rivers are now clean, if not cleaner then when the trout and salmon were still swiming. The only 2 problems are hydroplants and net fishing. The goverment is rapidly building fishing traps around the plants only sea run fish haven't got any change to reach the sea due to all the nets! It's a shame to see that the Germans, Swiss, France and Belgium poeple are putting much money and effort into reintroducing salmonides into the waters wich have clearly no effect due to al the nets in the esturia of the Netherlands, legal and illegal! I hope this will change in the near futue but to be honest, i doubt it :cry:

Hi Ruza,...

Hi Ruza,
there is some hope. The pictures under this link
http://www.bfv1889ev.de/index.php?id=55
are from the Wupper (part of the Rhine system), a river I am fishing since 1979. There is clear improvement, the grayling is back since the mid 80s and will perhaps stay in spite of the cormorants.
The seatrout and salmon in the pictures are back since a couple of years and have by the nature of their journey escaped the threats on the way. These fish will be used for smolt production in the small hatchery our club operates. There are some obstacles preventing these fish to enter the part of the river I am allowed to fish. I have, if all goes well, perhaps another 35 years or so to fish and hope to catch these magnificent fish in "my" river.
TL
Florian

Morten2's picture

Hmmm,,,not the best moment...

Hmmm,,,not the best moment for a discussion, bad mood, just came back from a fishing trip, soaking weet catching nothing else than trees, weed and other annoying objects.

Just a pitty that measures like www.ulovlige.net is necessary, so don't get me wrong, just don't want to live in a country where people turn each other in, no matter if it is for downloading mp3's of whatever.

If The Danish authorithies can't handle some illegal fishing nets, maybe the Danish Sportfishing organisations should fire at them instead, just my personal opinion, but anyway,, I am not an expert on this matter.

Rodney's picture

The website Steve provided is...

The website Steve provided is needed in my opinion. It is better to bring public awareness on a serious problem than hide what maybe a nation's disgrace. By getting more people aware of the issue, it brings solutions to the table. For a foreigner such as myself who fishes in Denmark several times per year, it's very informative and let us know what to do when illegal nets are encountered. Last summer while wading we came across one net completely submerged in the water. If I did not spot it before taking a few more steps, I would have tripped in the waist-deep water. At the time I wasn't sure if it was legal or not, but I'm pretty sure it is now after learning more about it.

What I find interesting is the fact that citizens can purchase licenses to net fish for personal usage (and sell?) in Denmark. In Canada, the fishery is divided into three sectors - Recreational, commercial and First Nations. Commercial fishing in Canada was heavy several decades ago but has dropped rapidly due to resource depletion. This is particularly apparently on the East Coast while the West Coast is beginning to experience the same trend and will continue if no actions are taken. The West Coast commercial fishery includes pacific salmon, halibut, groundfish (rockfish, lingcode) and sablefish (black cod). Illegal activities are not an issue in this fishery, but what is categorized legal by the government is not necessarily viewed as correct by the people. By-catch of vulnerable stocks, failure to meet spawner escapement are all part of the government's mismanagement.

Illegal fishing activities in this part of the world include poaching at night (white sturgeon), overfishing and illegal sale of salmon by First Nations, salmon poaching by recreational fishermen. We don't have small set gillnet problems by ordinary citizens, but we do have large drift nets that are used sometimes during closures by First Nations.

Anyway, that's just a brief summary. Illegal fishing happens throughout the world, it's definitely not bounded by nationality, culture, race.

[quote:873c96e4c3]PS. Great videos on the fishingwithrod site, is that Tryggevaelle river?? I fished there as a kid sometimes, dreaming about BC while working my cheap heawy Shakespeare glassfiber rod (but didn't catch any sea runs) .[/quote:873c96e4c3]

Yes, that is the Trygg. ;) I fish it pretty often whenever I am in Denmark since I mostly fish streams. There are three species that we usually target when fishing there - northern pike, perch and sea trout. We'll be back at it this December again, and mixing it up with some beach fishing too. ;)

Stephen Wade's picture

Hey Rodney,...

Hey Rodney,

Some interesting points you mentioned on "netting" in your part of the world. Yes awareness needs to be adressed.

If your in Jutland in December feel free to contact me, maybe we could meet up for a bit of fishing and a chat. December is a very busy month for me at work but maybe we could work something out.

Keep in touch!
Steve

Rodney's picture

December in Jutland? I...

December in Jutland? I thought people don't even come out of their houses during that time in that particular area. ;) Sea trout on the beach? :) We shall see, definitely interested if Nina permits. ;) Right now there are no specific plans for my stay. We will probably do some beach fishing trips around Copenhagen and hopefully some trips for pike and perch too.

Stephen Wade's picture

Rodney,...

Rodney,
Remember im a "mad fly fishing English man" :P so i fish all year round. Of course in December the weather is very cold here in Denmark but i have had some good results with the silver fish in December. You will just have to put up with the frozen ice rings and your " Man Tackle" shrinking away. :shock: The few fish that are around can be very big.

Well im off out fishing now...

Steve

Tight lines, Steve, you lucky...

Tight lines, Steve, you lucky dog!
Les :wink:

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