Poacher convicted of illegal fishing.

bitemybanger

Poacher is convicted of illegal fishing at Ballyclough wier on the river Mulkear
On 16th of Febuary 2012, the poacher was successfully prosecuted by Inland Fisheries at Limrick district court and a fine of €858 was imposed.

Story from Inland Fisheries website,

On 16th February 2012 Mr. Kevin Keogh was successfully prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland at Limerick District Court for illegally fishing at Ballyclough weir on the Mulkear River. Judge O’Brien imposed a fine of €858.
In June 2011, Fisheries Officers were carrying out a routine patrol on the Mulkear River at Ballyclough Weir. Two individuals were actively fishing at the weir which has a bye law dating back to 1850’s stating no angling is permitted within 50 yards of the weir.  Both men initially received on the spot fines totalling €300, one of the individuals paid his on the spot fine and the other man Mr Kevin Keogh refused to pay his fine which resulted in court proceedings at Limerick district court. In court Mr Keogh entered a guilty plea and the court ordered Mr Keogh to pay both a fine and expenses totalling €858.
The Mulkear River is one of the two rivers which is open and meet its salmon Conservation Limit in the Shannon River Basin District.  The river holds an excellent stock of wild salmon but incidents of this nature are extremely detrimental and will threaten their status.
Ms Amanda Mooney, Director at Inland Fisheries Ireland, Limerick stated today that “Poaching of salmon is unacceptable and these fish are the future to the survival of the species.  Wild Atlantic salmon are under severe threat nationally and internationally with numbers declining annually. This case could have been dealt with through IFI’s on the spot fine procedures but the individual chose to go to court where the fine was much greater.  This successful outcome reiterates IFI’s commitment to protection of fish, especially during a time of resource constraints.”
Report a pollution or poaching incident to IFI on 1890 FISH 24 or 1890 34 74 24 day or night.

typical of the fisheries take down the small man with the fishing rod. how many netters brought to court?

whelzer

This is great news - "small man with a rod or a netter" is completely besides the point. If you you can't do the time...don't do the crime.

Its a shame they didn't add a zero to the end and take any gear they had with them including car if appicable.

Good work IFI - more of the same please.

aidanf

Deleted User wrote: »

typical of the fisheries take down the small man with the fishing rod. how many netters brought to court?

Yeah, the small man with the fishing rod who was poaching salmon.

Just goes to show the mindset the fisheries officers are up against. Some people will always find a way to give out about them.

dinnybyrne

why is it acceptable to you that a man need a permit to fish?its the most natural amd ancient activity i can tbink of and the government feel the need to milk it.

ironbluedun

am i missing something here? what exactly were these guys prosecuted for, fishing with rod and line too close to a weir? or illegal fishing, strokehauling, netting etc??

Zzippy

ironbluedun wrote: »

am i missing something here? what exactly were these guys prosecuted for, fishing with rod and line too close to a weir? or illegal fishing, strokehauling, netting etc??

They were issued with on-the-spot fines for fishing too close to a weir, in breach of a bye-law. There are many such bye-laws around the country, where weirs cause fish to back up and become easy pickings in a pool. One of the guys paid his fine and had his gear returned to him. The other guy failed to pay the fine and was prosecuted. Same as if he was caught speeding and didn't pay the fine.

uch

Zzippy wrote: »

They were issued with on-the-spot fines for fishing too close to a weir, in breach of a bye-law. There are many such bye-laws around the country, where weirs cause fish to back up and become easy pickings in a pool. One of the guys paid his fine and had his gear returned to him. The other guy failed to pay the fine and was prosecuted. Same as if he was caught speeding and didn't pay the fine.

Didn't think of this when initially reading article, but you're spot on there.

SeaFields

whelzer wrote: »

Good work IFI - more of the same please.

Definitely. We need to see a lot more of this.

Zzippy

SeaFields wrote: »

Definitely. We need to see a lot more of this.

There is a lot more of this, many many cases that don't come to court at all too (fines are paid instead), but you can't issue a press release every time someone is prosecuted or the press would get p*ssed off pretty quickly and not bother giving any coverage at all. Fact is poaching is not "sexy" news - it doesn't interest most people unless they have an interest in fishing, so it doesn't sell papers...

whelzer

Do/can they name and shame all people who get "done".

Would be great if there was a section in the local press or their web site which did this. Will check later and if not and I'll email them asking why.;)

Zzippy

whelzer wrote: »

Do/can they name and shame all people who get "done".

Would be great if there was a section in the local press or their web site which did this. Will check later and if not and I'll email them asking why.;)

Cases are heard in open court, so anyone can report on it. See my post above for reasons why not all cases are publicised by IFI. Nothing stopping local newspaper reporters from naming and shaming though...

SeaFields

Zzippy wrote: »

Cases are heard in open court, so anyone can report on it. See my post above for reasons why not all cases are publicised by IFI. Nothing stopping local newspaper reporters from naming and shaming though...

Do they release stats regarding the number of on the spot fines? I was looking on the IFI site earlier and couldn't see any.

We see a number of court cases reported in the local press in Cork during the summer months. Plenty of illegal techniques being used on the Lee.

the river in front of my house is yellow at the moment, fisheries know this is going on. it has not been stopped any day so forgive me for having no respect for that organisation. its must be too much bother to do anything about it. if it was a fella fishing on the bank he would be stopped alright

bitemybanger

Deleted User wrote: »

the river in front of my house is yellow at the moment, fisheries know this is going on. it has not been stopped any day so forgive me for having no respect for that organisation. its must be too much bother to do anything about it. if it was a fella fishing on the bank he would be stopped alright

Just because You don't see the men in white coats and masks every day dipping and taking samples dosnt nessessarly mean nothing is being done.
It's very easy to "assume" nothing is being done.

I started the thread to make people aware that Fisheries Ireland are perusing cases and giving on the spot fines for people who don't follow the rules, not as a bashing thread.

you dont need a white coat and a mask to see whats going on here. the pollution will be over by the time something is done. sorry for interupting your tread

Zzippy

17 rem you were asked in another thread had you contacted IFI about this, and you didn't answer. What phone calls or other contact have you made with IFI??

If you made contact with them and they did nothing, if you're not happy with their response, make a complaint. Coming on a forum and moaning about it is not going to achieve anything. A picture of a river in flood, which is what the photos look like, is not evidence of anything. A lot of rivers go brown and dirty after rain.

IFI Galway phone number is 091 563118. The 24 hour hotline is 1890 347424. The email contact is galway@fisheriesireland.ie . All this information is available on www.fisheriesireland.ie.

If you do nothing about it, expect nothing to be done about it. Take some personal responsibility for your local river.

my camera is not the best that water is yellow right from the bridge, and its not in flood either for a change. i dunno maybe digging up the river wont harm anything and thats why nothing being done about it

Zzippy

Deleted User wrote: »

my camera is not the best that water is yellow right from the bridge, and its not in flood either for a change. i dunno maybe digging up the river wont harm anything and thats why nothing being done about it

You still haven't answered the questions? What did you DO about it?

mentioned it to a local ballife, should people have to tell someone to do their job? would you come to me and tell me my car is leaking oil that i should fix it? be fair enough if it was out of the way and not to be seen. the mess is plain to be seen

"if you do nothing about it expect nothing to be done about it" sure why would we expect people to do their job?? exactly what id expect from ifi to be honest. be too much hard work

Bizzum

Deleted User wrote: »

exactly what id expect from ifi to be honest. be too much hard work

I dunno what hard work has to do with it?
IF it's as clear cut as you think it is, there's no hard work involved.
The Kinnegad by-pass was stopped a number of years ago in it's tracks to facilitate Salmonids.
I dunno how many people you need telling you to contact IFI, if "mentioning it" to your local Fisheries Officer has not yielded the result you like, then ring his office. It's simple enough, they have Environmental Staff to deal with such cases, so that's who you look for when you ring.

Zzippy

Deleted User wrote: »

mentioned it to a local ballife, should people have to tell someone to do their job? would you come to me and tell me my car is leaking oil that i should fix it? be fair enough if it was out of the way and not to be seen. the mess is plain to be seen

"if you do nothing about it expect nothing to be done about it" sure why would we expect people to do their job?? exactly what id expect from ifi to be honest. be too much hard work

So you told a fishery officer, and as far as you know they did nothing? Or maybe they checked it out, took samples and determined there was no risk to the river...
Either way, if you're moaning about it on here you're clearly not happy with the action taken, but moaning on here will do absolutely nothing - as I said in one of my posts above, which you clearly ignored, if you're not happy COMPLAIN! Anyone worth their salt in IFI will have no problem with a complaint where someone has not done their job. I don't know where you're talking about, and ranting on an internet forum won't get action taken, so its up to you to follow up on this.

Bizzum

Bizzum wrote: »

I dunno what hard work has to do with it?
IF it's as clear cut as you think it is, there's no hard work involved.
The Kinnegad by-pass was stopped a number of years ago in it's tracks to facilitate Salmonids.
I dunno how many people you need telling you to contact IFI, if "mentioning it" to your local Fisheries Officer has not yielded the result you like, then ring his office. It's simple enough, they have Environmental Staff to deal with such cases, so that's who you look for when you ring.

id have taught it is fairly clear cut bizzum, digging up a river in spawning season?? the ifi shouldnt have let it go ahead in the first place, they would probably had a fight on their hands with the county council. thats what i ment about hard work. i cant see much happening complaining to ifi when ifi let this go ahead from the start. thats me out ive done enough moaning and ranting already