Eye in the sky
Sep 7th, 2009 | By ssacn | Category: CommercialHelicopters are being used to help combat illegal fishing by small groups who work around estuaries and use outlawed gill nets to capture bass salmon, sea trout and other varieties which are much in demand by the hotel and catering trade.
The northern Solway is a particularly favourite area for this practice and the Galloway Fisheries Trust is working with Marine Scotland Compliance across Dumfries and Galloway to combat these activities.
According to Gregor McKenzie of Marine Scotland Compliance “Helicopter and foot patrols have been carried out from the inner Solway Firth to Luce Bay as a result of the reports we’ve received. Equipment has been taken in these operations and we will be maintaining an increased level of surveillance in the area in future.
He added “’We have also been visiting hotels and other outlets to remind owners of the laws governing the buying and selling of fish.”
Pam Taylor of the Solway Firth Partnership said “….. netting is quite lawful, but it was the use of illegal monofilament nets which distort migration and pose a threat to navigation that are the problem.”
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