Every one of us should be calling in illegal fishing - Dom Garnett
I have to check myself as I see the vehicle and the rods out. “Have you been under a rock for the last two months?” is what I want to say. What actually comes out is a more polite “did you not realise that all waters are closed at the moment?”
The guy shrugs. “How am I meant to know?” he says, eyes down, looking at the second rod he is about to lob out. “I don’t follow social media.”
His mate is sunbathing in the car, as if he’s at a barbecue.
Are these guys totally stupid? Again, I daren’t utter the immediate thoughts running through my brain. Luckily, they decide to pack up.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. Stupidity is a virus with no cure, closely followed by selfishness, and those people who point-blank refuse to listen, even when instructions come with helpful qualifiers like “people are going to die if you don’t follow the advice.” Times of crisis tend to reveal the true nature of human beings. The layers are stripped away and the real character of groups and individuals shows.
Unfortunately, that means as well as true heroism and kindness, we also see an ugly kind of base layer that would make Charles Darwin himself ponder the very idea that species evolve over time.
The lockdown has unfortunately revealed that our own sport has this small but conspicuous core.
Like the fool still fishing the river while passers-by tap their heads, or the family who were rightly fined when caught driving from London to Devon to fish.
Quite what goes through their heads is baffling, although the sad truth is that this is nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with selfishnes.
On reflection, it shouldn’t need a virus for the rest of us to realise this. These are the anglers who don’t buy a licence, who break every rule going or expect others to pick their litter up. Unfortunately, though, in the same way hooligans are still football fans on some level, these people share our sport and make us all look bad.
Every crisis will pass, but unfortunately the selfish of the world will survive it completely untroubled by the period of reflection most of us undergo when life turns on its head.
I have no answers in this regard, other than for all of us to call these people out for what they are and, where necessary, challenge them.
Every one of us should be calling in illegal fishing to the EA. Where it’s safe to do so, we should also be challenging rule-breaking, littering and the 101 things that these muppets still perceive as acceptable. Rant over.
The guidelines currently are that we shouldn’t be fishing