A Monmouth man was sentenced to community service and put on probation when he appeared before Newport Magistrates last week for sentencing for fisheries offences.
Michael Glyn Grubb, of Woodland View, Wyesham, was ordered to complete 100 hours' community service and one year's probation. He was also ordered to pay £300 towards the costs of Environment Agency Wales which brought the prosecution.
Grubb had previously appeared at the same court with two other defendants. At that hearing he had admitted fishing with an illegal net, contrary to Section 27a of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act. He also pleaded guilty to handling salmon in suspicious circumstances, contrary to the Salmon Act 1986.
The court was told that on August 17th last year Mr Grubb and a companion were apprehended close to the River Wye by Agency enforcement officers. The officers had just found a net in the river despite the fact that fishing the Wye with such a net is illegal.
Mr Grubb and his companion, Marc Lawrence Jones, also of Woodland View, Wyesham, had in their possession a rucksack, which contained salmon scales. They were told they would be reported.
Later that year, on September 3rd, uniformed police officers stopped a vehicle at Wyesham which contained four men including Grubb, Jones and Christopher Thomas Hughes of Holywell Close, Overmonnow.
Mr Grubb opened the boot of the vehicle and produced a large salmon. In the boot of the car were seven salmon, a deflated rubber dinghy, paddles, sacks and various items of wet clothing. The police notified the Agency of the incident and court proceedings were instigated.
Marc Lawrence Jones and Christopher Thomas Hughes were fined at the court hearing on September 27th. Both had pleaded guilty to the charges laid against them. Mr Jones was fined £500 for handling salmon in suspicious circumstances on August 17th, contrary to the Salmon Act 1986, and a further £500 for the same offence on September 3rd.
Mr Hughes was fined £500 for handling salmon in suspicious circumstances on September 3rd, 1999, contrary to the same Act. Each was ordered to pay £500 towards the Agency's prosecution costs. The Magistrates forfeited the seven salmon, dinghy, paddles and sacks.