I have been trying to get onto the website to report poaching activity on the Cowie but the site is down. Can someone please pass on the following..thanks... I am not sure who I should be telling but I know some of the SDAA are on this site. Regards Rob
Hi rob
Thank you for this update and for intervening to prevent what was going on. Took a bit of bottle. We had three separate encampments in Stoney.....all illegal. Despite the existence of perfectly valid legislation to get rid of them (Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 etc), the police "standard operating procedures" dictate against police acting to move on such encampments unless their presence is accompanied by substantial disorder/thefts etc. What a fiasco.
Our river watcher and I had intercepted this bunch of minkers on four nights in succession at the Cowie Estuary Pool..........they had bought three visitor permits in probably dubious names (everyone there seems to be "Mr Price") and were fishing there en masse, professing the usual ignorance of the salmon laws. We had to balance our deep desire to simply nick the scum, against the almost certain fact that on leaving Stoney, they would do serious harm to that pool by presenting it with a tin of Cymag or similar. In the event (as Lyall has said) they left after a court order was made against them......but no doubt others will take their place.
Best point of contact to report such poaching is the Dee Board number at 013398-80411 which is automatically redirected to the on-duty bailiffing team. who will involve the police if necessary. Or me as club secretary on 07718-748048 as I know the contact numbers and can provide a swift SDAA response.
The club website has no immediate forwarding facility and is best not used for that purpose.....incidentally if the site problem was a "banned user-agent" message (usually related to the user upgrading to Internet Explorer 8) simply got to "Tools" and drop down to and click on "compatibility view". Thanks agin, Rob!