Man fined for taking trout without licence

Press, 30 May 1989, Page 12

Man fined for taking trout without licence

A man who shot a brown trout in the Irwell River was convicted and fined $2OO yesterday after admitting taking the fish without a licence. Mr John BrandtsGiesen, for the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, told the District Court at Christchurch that a ranger saw Brett Fea on January 4 this year walking along the river bani with a trout and a shotgun. “When the defendant saw the ranger’s vehicle he dropped the trout and when approached denied knowledge of it,” he said.

“The trout was found by the ranger to have been killed by shotgun pellets.

“The defendant admitted shooting the trout. At first he gave a false name and address but when the ranger exercised his right to confiscate the gun, the defendant gave his cor-

rect name and address.” Mr Brandts-Giesen told Judge Frampton that had Fea been the holder of a licence, he would have been charged with catching a fish with an unsportsmanlike device. The shotgun would be returned after the case was over, he said.

Fea told the Judge he was in the area shooting rabbits and had spotted quite a few trout. “The river was stagnating and drying out. It (the trout) was dying anyway. It was swiming on its side in a puddle.

“I shot it. It wouldn’t have lasted the day. I thought I would eat it rather than the hawks.” Mr Brandts-Giesen replied that ranger patrols collected such trout to transfer them to rivers with more water.

The Judge fined Fea $2OO, plus $65 court costs and $7O solicitor’s fee.