Anglers are being threatened by illegal poachers on Wales' rivers, one group has said. One association said its members were coming across poaching gangs "all the time" leading to confrontations and "threats of violence". Another group spoke of finding badminton nets strung across rivers and said poachers had become "brazen" due to lack of enforcement, with serious impacts for endangered species such as salmon.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said it took illegal fishing "absolutely seriously", but did not have the luxury of "a bailiff on every river, all times of the day". In recent years anglers have been forced by law to release any salmon they catch - as well as sea trout over a certain size - due to dwindling populations. An NRW report warned last year that wild Atlantic salmon could disappear completely from Welsh rivers within two decades .
The log books of the Seiont, Gwyrfai and Llynfi Fishing Society in Gwynedd help tell the story in stark terms. More than 400 salmon were caught by anglers on the Seiont back in 1988 whereas more recently that has fallen to just two or three per year. Chairman Robin Parry, said it meant that any illegal fishing was all the more damaging.
"There's plenty of evidence that people are going in with snares, gaff hooks and nets and taking out the few adult salmon that have come back," he said. "It defies belief - we've taken out badminton nets several times - but others are proper nets with buoys across the top and weights." Huw Hughes, the .