Eastern Europe

As many know Wandering Angler are involved with the introduction of the concept of ‘Catch and Release’ in the Baltic country of Lithuania. It has long been my concern however, that far more damage is done by those using unconventional methods than by anglers themselves. For one thing, without taking into consideration poachers using mass capture tactics such as nets or electro fishing, the mathematics simply don’t add up.

Lithuania is the largest of the 3 Baltic States in terms of population, territory, and economy. Its territory of 65,300 sq km is larger than that of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, or Switzerland.

70% of its lowland plains and hilly uplands are arable and 28% are forested. Now consider this, a country this size has 722 rivers, more than 2,800 lakes, and 99 km of the Baltic Sea coastline mostly devoted to recreation and nature preservation and there are only 3.5 million people to enjoy them. Considering the number of conventional anglers in this fine country, catching for the pot, even on a bad day, would have no impact.

Now poachers on the other hand, are by the very definition, thieves. Their existence is a threat because while anglers may be educated, poachers cannot. Of course this is a global problem, thieves exist in every country but problems occur when they migrate between borders because when doing so they carry the flags, or more specifically the passports, of their nation of origin. I have heard stories of ‘Eastern Europeans’ having been caught in the UK using ‘illegal’ methods to the end of stealing fish and obviously when their name and nationality appears in the paper it doesn’t help with the growing anger that exists in the UK towards immigrants.

For it’s part, Lithuania is not hiding from this issue. Poachers are being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This week the angling magazine Žvejys ir Žuvis reports that two anglers (named and shamed) have been prosecuted and fined for electro fishing. In addition to a 5000 Litas fine for using the method they were also fined 2872.80 Litas for the capture of 4 Pike, 215.46 Litas for 2 Chub and 35.91 Litas for one Roach making a total fine of 8,124.17 Litas. In English terms this is approaching 2000 pounds but when taking into account the cost of living in Lithuania and the average wage you can then see that in real terms it is much higher. The message is clear… the Lithuanian authorities will no longer tolerate poaching in any form and the penalty if caught will be severe.

I know that some will say that this will not change the fact that ‘Eastern Europeans’ still use these methods in the UK but by taking action to teach catch and release and eradicate poaching at origin Lithuania is taking a responsible approach in the front line of making a change in the UK.

Last year the national television news carried a responsible story urging all anglers to consider catch and release as a means of protecting fish stocks. National magazines have now carried articles with regard to the catch and release policy in the UK on several occasions and Wandering Angler continues to spread the word at grass roots. Sir Winston Churchill once said “This may not be the end, this may not be the beginning of the end, but it is almost certainly the end of the beginning”. Change was never going to happen over night, but for this small country of three and a half million people, change is now visibly coming.

we will get there mate, education is the thing we must teach.....