04/05/06
 PAC
REFUTES FISH 'THEFT' CLAIMS The
Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain (PAC) is refuting claims made in a national
angling newspaper that coarse fish are being stolen to supply baits for predator
anglers.
Peterborough-based Angling Times offered a £10,000 reward
for information, in what it claimed was an exclusive expose. It said crooks were
targeting silver fish for the deadbait trade, but the PAC has dismissed the story
as "unfair and untrue". PAC
chairman Colin Goodge said: "We are strongly rebutting this story because
it is simply not true that fish are being netted wholesale to supply the bait
trade. "Most pike anglers do not even use coarse deadbaits, as these are
inferior to so-called sea baits such as mackerel and herring. It is unfair to
suggest that pike anglers are directly or indirectly responsible for any significant
loss of coarse fish, either in Norfolk, or anywhere else." Most
bait fish which appear in tackle shops are distributed by reputable companies,
whose names and addresses appear on the packaging. These are sourced either from
fish farms or other sustainable sources. Mr
Goodge said: "We do not dispute that coarse fish are in decline in some areas
of the country. What we strongly refute is that this is due to their being netted
for the bait trade. "Blaming predator anglers does nothing but create divides
in angling and divert attention from the real problems which exist in our rivers." The
PAC is disappointed Angling Times did not contact it to offer it the chance to
respond on behalf of pike anglers to what are damaging and divisive allegations.
The story first appeared in the local media in Norfolk last year. Since
then, no evidence has been produced to support the claims fish are being netted
commercially from rivers to provide pike baits. Instead of checking the story
through, and obtaining any kind of factual corroboration, Angling Times has merely
repeated hearsay which has been circulating for over a year. During this time,
no evidence has emerged that the deadbait trade has been responsible for any decline
in silver fish. We do not dispute that populations of species such as roach have
fallen in a number of areas. But since their "exclusive" story first
appeared, more than a year ago, the Environment Agency has published reports into
silver fish declines in East Anglian rivers. These
have blamed changing river levels and flow patterns around the time fish spawn,
for reducing egg and fry survival. We note the EA, which routinely carries out
surveys to monitor fish populations in Britain's rivers, has so far not been approached
to comment on or corroborate the story. The
source of this story would appear to originate from a group of people who obtained
access to a boatyard at Potter Heigham, which in previous winters has been packed
with fish. Our
climate is changing, and the effect of this upon our environment, including our
rivers, has been well-documented. It is highly possible that migration patterns
of fish on the Broadland rivers are evolving as a result of this and this would
seem a far more plausible explanation. There is also the 20 % yearly growth in
the population of the non-native European Freshwater Cormorant, these figures
were quoted by the RSPB at a recent seminar on Cormorants. This
increase in the cormorant population is having a devastating impact on all of
our freshwater species. The 400lb of fish taken each year by every cormorant and
the effect of climate change described above are the most likely cause of the
reduction in fish stocks, not "wholesale netting by criminal gangs". No-one
in the deadbait industry was contacted prior to publication. Had AT done so, they
would have learned that coarse fish account for a small percentage of the trade,
with most pike anglers favouring so-called sea baits. We
are even more disappointed that as the body which represents all pike anglers,
the PAC was not given the chance to comment on this story, which clearly reflects
on both our members and the wider predator angling community. ENDS
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NEWS