• Two offences land Tamworth angler with fines totalling £751
• Stoke fisherman pays £191 for illegal fishing
• Cases heard at Northampton magistrates court on 21 November 2022

At Northampton magistrates on 21 November 2022, Lee Whitehead, 32, of French Avenue, Mile Oak, Tamworth, pleaded guilty to fishing illegally and to refusing to give his name and address to an officer from the Environment Agency.

Whitehead’s offences took place at Stubby Leas Carp Fishery, Lichfield, on 19 June 2022. He was fined £220 for each offence and ordered to pay costs of £135 and a victim’s surcharge of £176.

The case of Lucian Blaga, 37, of Bartholomew Road, Stoke, was also heard by the magistrates. He was fined £40 and ordered to pay costs of £135 and a victim’s surcharge of £16 for fishing illegally on the River Dove at Uttoxeter on 19 June 2022.

Following the verdict, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency, said:

We’re pleased how seriously the courts take these offences. Lee Whitehead has been rightly punished for his offences.

He did not have a valid licence, but he was also unhelpful when questioned by our officers.

We will not tolerate abusive behaviour towards our officers who routinely undertake licence checks.

All of the money raised from rod licence sales is used to protect and improve fish stocks and fisheries for the benefit of anglers. For those caught cheating the system, we will always prosecute.

Every year across the country, thousands of anglers are prosecuted for not having a fishing licence.

As well as cheating other anglers, fishing illegally can carry a hefty penalty.

Getting caught without a licence could land a fine of up to £2,500.

Income from rod licence sales is used to fund Environment Agency work to protect and improve fish stocks and fisheries, including improving habitats for fish and facilities for anglers, tackling illegal fishing and working with partners to encourage people to give fishing a go.

Any angler aged 13 or over, fishing on a river, canal or still water needs a licence to fish. A 1-day licence costs from just £6, and an annual licence currently costs from just £30 (concessions available). Junior licences are free for 13 to 16-year-olds. Licences are available from www.gov.uk/get-a-fishing-licence or by calling the Environment Agency on 0344 800 5386 between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.

The Environment Agency carries out enforcement work all year round and is supported by partners including the police and the Angling Trust. Fisheries enforcement work is intelligence-led, targeting known hot-spots and where illegal fishing is reported.

Anyone with information about illegal fishing activities can contact the Environment Agency incident hotline 24/7 on 0800 807060 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Background

Lee Whitehead was charged with the following:

• On 19 June 2022 at Stubby Leas Carp Fishery, Lichfield, in a place where fishing is regulated fished for freshwater fish or eels by means of an unlicensed fishing instrument, namely rod and line. Contrary to Section 27 (1) (a) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.
• On 19 June 2022 at Stubby Leas Carp Fishery, Lichfield, when fishing, failed, when required to do so, to state his name and address to a water bailiff of the Environment Agency having power to make such a request contrary to Section 35 (3) of and Schedule 4 to the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Lucian Blaga was charged with the following:

• On 28 June 2022 on River Dove at Uttoxeter in a place where fishing is regulated fished for freshwater fish or eels by means of an unlicensed fishing instrument, namely rod and line. Contrary to Section 27 (1) (a) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Environment Agency officers and partners in the Reviving Calderdale’s Rivers project made the fantastic find at Luddenden Brook. It’s the first time they have been confirmed in that location for close to a decade.

White-clawed crayfish are the UK’s only native, freshwater crayfish, and are most at risk from the American signal crayfish, which spread a fatal disease and compete for food.

The rare species plays a vital role in keeping our waterways clean and as a source of food for other native species, but have struggled to survive after the more aggressive signal crayfish population has taken hold.

Crayfish in ‘very real’ danger of extinction

Dan Chadwick, Fisheries Technical Officer from the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said:

We’re delighted with this discovery. The white-clawed crayfish is in very real danger of disappearing from the UK so to confirm that a population we thought was lost is flourishing is exciting.

We’ll be working with partners including Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Calderdale Council and Calder Rivers Trust to create better habitats and ensure this rare species can survive and thrive. It gives us real hope that there might be further populations in the Calder river catchment.

The signal crayfish, which originates from America, was introduced in the 1970s. It is bigger, more aggressive and out-competes the native white-clawed crayfish. They also carry a fungal disease known as crayfish plague, which is fatal to the native species. They burrow into banksides, causing increased siltation of watercourses which can smother river beds.

Populations of signal crayfish do exist in the main River Calder, but several weirs on Luddenden Brook isolate and protect the endangered white claw species from them. The Environment Agency is now calling on people to ‘Check, Clean, Dry’ their clothing and equipment after visiting local rivers in the Calder catchment to avoid transferring the invasive species and the crayfish plague into the brook and risking harm to the white claw population.

River users should ‘Check, Clean, Dry’

Tim Selway, Environment Agency Biodiversity Technical Officer, said:

We want to do all we can to protect this special species so are calling on people to take extra care and make sure they are not moving crayfish from where they have been found.

Signal crayfish have rapidly spread across the country and moving just one into a river can wipe out an entire population of the white-clawed species, killing hundreds of thousands of them. And once the invasive signal becomes established in a river there is currently no way to get rid of them.

Elliot Baxendale from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust added:

Through partnership work it’s fantastic to see the rediscovery of the white-clawed crayfish in Luddenden Brook. This endangered species needs all the help that it can get and this can be as little as following the Check, Clean, Dry guidance to help ensure their survival in our shared interconnected eco systems.

Chair, let me warmly welcome Brazil’s delegation, led by Minister Fernando Meirelles de Azevedo Pimentel to their eighth Trade Policy Review [TPR].

Let me also thank the Government of Brazil and to the WTO Secretariat for their Reports and, in particular, to you, Chair and Discussant, for your insightful comment.

Chair, following Brazil’s recent federal elections, we look forward to continuing to work together constructively with the incoming government to find bilateral opportunities and to advance progressive multilateral solutions, including here at the WTO.

In our written questions for this review, the UK was keen to gain a deeper understanding regarding Geographical Indications, import and customs requirements, environmental and sustainability measures, and government procurement.

As Brazil’s 2017 TPR and the Secretariat Report for this review note, Brazil remains a somewhat inward-oriented economy. However, we were pleased to note developments in the modernisation of Brazil’s economy and commend Brazil’s clear commitment and actions here to reaffirm the WTO as a central pillar of global economic governance and its impressive role within the multilateral trading system. Let me also recognise Brazil’s active engagement on all the Joint Statement Initiatives.

Chair, we are encouraged by Brazil’s ongoing openness to international investment. We agree with Brazil that economies, like the multilateral trading system itself, should function as an instrument to improve the lives of everyone, and that investors depend on predictability and stability.

As such, there are key opportunities for Brazil and the UK to build on common ground. For instance, the UK Global Tariff, which came into effect in January this year, has secured over £2 billion of import value by unilaterally removing barriers to green trade. This measure supports wind turbine components, renewable energy generation, and advancing carbon capture innovations and research. This measure reflects the importance of trade in greening the global economy, as highlighted in Director General Ngozi’s recent comments at COP 27 and in the WTO World Trade Report. Trade must be a cornerstone of climate action.

Similarly, to grow international trade, UK Export Finance offers a dedicated £2 billion clean growth direct lending facility, and long-term financing (up to 18 years indeed for renewable energy projects) to provide a safety net for businesses investing in this area.

Turning to new trade policy developments, we are proud to support Brazil to be the first Latin America country to have a digital marketplace of export services tailor-made for MSMEs’ needs, which is based on the United National Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business integrated services for MSMEs in international trade.

We also note that the BRAEXP platform [a new service for Brazilian’s exporters] is due to be fully developed by March 2023 and we look forward to seeing the trade-facilitating benefits which it will undoubtedly provide.

Chair, let me also pay tribute to Brazil’s commitment to the trade facilitation agenda. Through the Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries programme, we were glad to support the World Bank Group and the World Customs Organization to deliver to Brazil a Time Release Study, a WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Gap Assessment, a Trade and Gender Survey, and a Poverty Impact Assessment.

We encourage Brazil to keep implementing the solutions identified in those deliverables. These will enhance transparency and improve the effectiveness of international trade procedures, ensuring that benefits are reaped regardless of socio-economic status, ethnicity, or gender.

We are also pleased that the Secretariat’s Report notes that Brazil has eliminated important duties on certain aeronautical goods and has implemented tariff reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those measures demonstrate flexibility and an openness to international trade, and we encourage Brazil to implement further, similar, outward-looking, open measures.

Regarding Geographic Indication [GI], the UK particularly welcomes Brazil’s recent commitment to progress the UK’s application for the protection of GI’s in relation to Scotch Whisky, cheers. We are pleased with the progress which we have made on a double taxation agreement to boost trade and investment between our 2 countries.

We were also glad to share with Members that last Thursday 17 October we completed negotiations with Brazil on the UK Goods Schedule at the WTO, a great step in our bilateral relationship. Earlier this year, we welcomed the OECD Council’s unanimous invitation to Brazil to start on the path towards formal organization membership, a process which will surely prosper in the capable and oh-so-elegant hands of Ambassador Parola. Geneva’s loss is undoubtedly Paris’ gain.

Concerning Brazil’s accession to the Government Procurement Agreement [GPA], the UK was pleased to receive Brazil’s latest market access offer in June. To fully unlock the richness of our trading relationship, the UK would welcome further engagement to progress Brazil’s accession to the GPA, and in doing so to become the first Latin American country to accede. All of these proactive steps underline Brazil’s strong commitment to multilateralism.

To conclude, Chair, we wish Brazil well in building on its trade-centred growth path and we thank our colleagues in Brazil and here for their fruitful engagement in this important transparency exercise.

Finally, to pick up a current in our conversations this morning, good luck to Seleção Canarinha, whose silky skills are matched only by those of your team in Geneva. See you in the final in Qatar.

Thank you, Chair.