We recently had an incident in which an Environment Agency (EA) Bailiff found a member fishing one of our waters without an EA rod licence. The foolish member gave a false name, but a KDAA official was able to demand his club card and find his true identity.
We are unaware of what action the EA will take but the KDAA Committee took its own action as the member contravened KDAA Bailiff and Licenses rule 2 on page 14 of the handbook.
We insist that all members comply with the legal requirement to possess a valid EA rod licence before fishing. The KDAA benefits tremendously from the EA in the form of fishery advice, help in emergency situations, fish introduced to our waters at no cost and recently a very welcome grant to allow us to complete the Seabrooks Car Park project.
Since the recent incident our Bailiffs have found several members without valid EA rod licence. Please be aware that the penalties for taking the chance and not buying a licence can be very high including prosecution resulting in a criminal record, fines and fishing tackle confiscated. EA Bailiffs can check anyone fishing anywhere including our waters, so it is just not worth it.
Please be aware that our Bailiff will, in future, ask to see your EA rod licence in addition to your membership card. If you are found without a licence you will be told to purchase one before fishing any KDAA waters in future and/or always keep in in your possession when fishing. Please note your details will be also passed onto the Committee for action to be taken. The Committee will be discussing penalties at their meeting at the end of the month which could be at minimum a warning or a suspension of membership. .
There is plenty of information available online about the issuing of rod licenses including our own webpage. https://kdaa.co.uk/club-info/rod-licences/
Bob Reed
Head Bailiff