First joint enforcement meeting

10th April 2003

The first full meeting between the recently-formed Environment Agency’s National Fish Movements enforcement team and fish health inspectors from the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) took place at the CEFAS laboratories in Weymouth on Thursday. The two agencies will be working closely to co-ordinate enforcement measures to prevent illegal fish movements and illegal imports of live fish. A recently introduced protocol provides for information to be exchanged, and joint operations to be conducted by the two agencies to prevent these offences which pose such a threat to the well-being of our fish.

Presentations were followed by in-depth discussions on the current situation and on the measures which need to be taken to prevent the spread of disease. Problems concerning illegal movements of fish are the responsibility of the Environment Agency whilst the prevention of illegal imports and controls on movements of fish from farms under disease controls falls to CEFAS. So the importance of creating an efficient and effective joint-agency approach to protect all fish stocks formed the basis of the discussions. Both agencies expressed their gratitude to the growing number of individuals and organisations who support these aims. The invaluable contribution made by the angling press was also acknowledged, and it is the aim of both teams to continue to be open and honest with the press to inform the public, and garner the support of anglers, fishery owners and all others involved in the business.

Richard INGHAM, the head of the EA team said, “Meetings such as the one we had on Thursday are a very important part of the process of establishing contact and creating priorities for the future. We hope the public will help us by passing on any information they may have on illegal movements of fish. We now have the capability and willingness to follow up this information and to act upon it accordingly”

Steve MAIDMENT, investigations inspector for CEFAS, commented “We have only limited resources so we need to identify the main problem areas and concentrate our efforts to best effect against those whose activities pose the greatest threat. If the authorities are seen to be working in a co-ordinated and professional manner it may encourage even more people to support us. This meeting was the first step. For too long fish have been looked upon as a commodity, as a means of making money. It’s time to start thinking about the welfare and health of the fish.”

Any information can be passed in confidence to:

Illegal imports (CEFAS) – 01305 206681
Illegal movements (EA) – 0800 807060

Steve Maidment Richard Ingham