{"id":62080,"date":"2015-09-24T14:30:52","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=287b80ece98e8d9d2cbdb425e34268ce"},"modified":"2015-09-24T14:30:52","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T14:30:52","slug":"press-release-sunderland-man-sentenced-for-illegal-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=62080","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Sunderland man sentenced for illegal fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>A Sunderland man has been sentenced after being caught using illegal fishing nets on the River Wear. <\/p>\n<p>Lee Burton, 41, of Buttermere Street in Sunderland, was given a three-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay \u00a3500 legal costs. <\/p>\n<p>All of his equipment was also forfeited and will be destroyed following the Environment Agency investigation. <\/p>\n<p>He appeared at Sunderland Magistrates\u2019 Court on Thursday, September, 17, where he pleaded guilty to four offences of fishing with a gill net without a licence. <\/p>\n<p>Acting on behalf of the Environment Agency, solicitor Simon Crowder told the court that on three occasions during September 2014, and one in October the same year, Burton was seen using a gill net to catch salmon and migratory trout at the River Wear at Low Southwick. <\/p>\n<p>He was arrested by Environment Agency officers both on September 29, and October 19, following enforcement operations. <\/p>\n<p>The net was recovered on October 20 with two dead migratory trout in it. <\/p>\n<p>The Environment Agency\u2019s Dave Edwardson said: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Gill nets are a destructive method of fishing designed for taking significant quantities of large fish.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Given their impact on fish stocks, their use is very limited and requires a licence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Burton\u2019s actions could cause serious damage to fish stocks and ruin the sport for legitimate anglers ad future generations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We\u2019ll continue to carry out enforcement to target those using illegal and potentially damaging fishing methods.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If anyone thinks they have seen any illegal fishing, they should phone the Environment Agency\u2019s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. <\/p>\n<p>All 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. <\/p>\n<p>Buying a rod licence is quick and easy &#8211; you can buy them online at the Post Office. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a3500 legal costs bill for fishing without a licence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}