From Chris Whitworth.
THE proposed £20,000 fine for catching more than a bag full of fish in our local waters for anyone but commercial fishermen seems absurd.
Who is going to monitor everyone casting a line in the many hundreds of isolated locations to be found around our Island?
And if such an army of investigators are employed to safeguard our fish stocks, what’s to stop amateur fisherman taking family and friends along in order to increase their quota? Moreover, who will judge which fish were caught by the offender if some of their haul had been given to them?
More importantly, though, this begs the question: who owns the fish around our Island?
If it is our government, surely they should stop the large foreign fishing vessels from entering our waters. If not, how can they bring in laws to control something they do not own? The whole concept is full of holes and would be futile to pursue through the courts.
For this reason, I expect our political masters to waste many hours of debating time on this subject in the States Chamber in the not-too-distant future.
Evanston,
Green Street,
St Helier.
