| By :
Mark Jenner
Livestock managers have always feared the attention of the rustlers. These thieves will steal cows, horses and anything else that is valuable and can be sold. This even includes fish stocked in commercial fisheries! Carp lakes will stock fish of varying sizes to suit a mixed bunch of anglers' needs. In order to attract the more experienced carp fisherman the fishery will need to contain a number of big fish for the specimen hunter who will be willing to pay well for the opportunity to catch them. The largest carp ever caught is a 94 pound specimen from Rainbow Lake in France. The fish was well known to anglers having been caught several times before during the preceding years. It was named 'Briggs' after one of its captors and became a star in this particular fishery. With such a well known fish in the lake this will encourage other would-be record breakers who are hoping that the fish will put on a few pounds by the next time it is caught. It is a prime candidate for breaking the magic 100 pound record barrier within a year. The fishery manager will want to beef up his security following the additional publicity that has been received. Rustlers will sometimes risk their own lives to steal big fish. There have been instances reported where they fished a frozen lake, walking across thin ice to the gaps so that they could place their nets. They work in the dark and in hazardous conditions, just to take the fishery's stock. The stolen carp can survive transport for a long distance just wrapped in wet sacking, much further if carried in tanks of water. Some fishery managers will pay a lot for big fish and not question where they came from. In the UK the Environment Agency is starting to clamp down on the fish rustlers. They are about to get powers that will allow them to remove and destroy any illegally stocked fish. Stolen carp or non indigenous catfish will no longer be easily introduced to fuel the greed of a few angling crooks. This must be advantageous, as uncontrolled stocking causes the spread of deadly fish diseases such as Spring Viremia of Carp. Angling by its nature is an environmentally friendly sport, its biggest attraction is that it allows city dwellers and country folk alike to appreciate the outdoors. When a few crooks exploit the angling world in this way it spoils the sport for everybody else.
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