Angling: Licensing
(asked on 12th March 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many successful prosecutions by the Environment Agency there were for fishing without a licence in England in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, (4) 2022, and (5) 2023.
Answered by
Lord Douglas-Miller
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In addition to prosecution, the Environment Agency will use other enforcement outcomes that include formal cautions, warning letters and issuing advice and guidance. The table below provides the numbers of these used alongside prosecutions between 2019 to 2023.
Final Action Taken | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Grand Total |
Advice and Guidance Total | 261 | 59 | 167 | 114 | 78 | 679 |
Caution Total | 113 | 25 | 254 | 573 | 1176 | 2141 |
Warning Letter Total | 182 | 102 | 238 | 1447 | 338 | 2307 |
Prosecutions (Successful) Total | 1876 | 464 | 728 | 379 | 250 | 3697 |
Grand Total | 2432 | 650 | 1387 | 2513 | 1842 | 8824 |
The total number of successful prosecutions is higher (+498) than the table above if you include fisheries byelaw offences such as fishing in the close season. Please see the table below for all prosecutions and enforcement actions.
Final Action Taken | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Grand Total | |
Advice and Guidance | 269 | 62 | 167 | 116 | 79 | 693 | |
Caution |
| 123 | 29 | 276 | 579 | 1185 | 2192 |
Warning Letter |
| 191 | 110 | 265 | 1461 | 362 | 2389 |
Prosecutions (Successful) | 2057 | 494 | 818 | 483 | 343 | 4195 | |
Grand Total |
| 2640 | 695 | 1526 | 2639 | 1969 | 9469 |